Judge grants former District 18 superintendent a restraining order
By BRANDON COUTRE – bcoutre@nwherald.com
WOODSTOCK – Judge Michael Sullivan on Wednesday granted former superintendent of Riley School District 18 Ronald Rood's emergency request to block the release of records related to his Internet use on district computers to the Northwest Herald.
The restraining order prevents the district from turning over the records to the newspaper, which sought the information through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Another hearing on the matter will be held within 10 days.
Rood, who cited medical reasons for his resignation about a month ago, filed court documents Tuesday requesting the emergency hearing.
If the records were released, Rood’s reputation would be damaged and his privacy violated because his medical information would become public, according to the request for a restraining order and injunction. The records also could be harmful to the district, the filing claimed.
“Disclosure of the requested information could prove extremely divisive and harmful to the district, staff and students,” according to court filings.
Northwest Herald senior reporter Kevin Craver, also is named as a party in the case, filed a Freedom of Information request with the school board Feb. 11 for Web browser logs from computers that Rood had used since July 1, 2007.
The newspaper made the request after receiving credible tips that the information could be newsworthy.
“We feel strongly that the information we requested is public information that we are entitled to,” Northwest Herald Editor Dan McCaleb said. “There may be a vital public interest in having this information, which is why we sought it to begin with.”
School board members first denied Craver’s request. That denial was then appealed last week, and according to Rood’s court filings, “it has come to [Rood’s] attention that the board is contemplating granting Craver’s appeal.”
The district’s attorney, David Miller, said Tuesday that he would reserve comment until today’s court hearing.
District officials said they were unaware of the status of the Freedom of Information Act appeal and Rood’s legal complaint.
“I’m not sure why he would be doing that at this time,” board member Christopher Peters said.
Rood referred questions and comments to his attorney, Steven E. Glink.
“It all revolves around his resignation,” Glink said. “He was kind of in a precarious medical situation and did some things due to his medical situation that all came to light and was directly involved in his resignation.”
The sickness from which Rood suffered included physical and mental ailments, Glink said.
Aside from a privacy issue, Rood also argued in court documents that Freedom of Information laws no longer apply to him, since he resigned and is no longer a public official.
The Freedom of Information Act is a tool the public can use to obtain information related to government affairs.
School board officials denied the newspaper’s original request because “it would constitute a clearly and unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, unless [Rood] agrees in writing to the disclosure.”
In an appeal letter to the board’s president, Craver said the law “obviously applies to Dr. Rood, and the Web sites he visited on a taxpayer-funded computer while receiving a salary subsidized by taxpayers.”
• Northwest Herald reporter Kathy Gresey contributed to this report.
