Teacher's Alleged Harassment Is Public Record

Parents have the right to public records that document a teacher's alleged sexual harassment of a student, a California appeals court has ruled.

Last spring, the teacher, Ari Marken, had gone to court in attempt to block one parent's request for the information, but a Los Angeles Superior Court judge said the potential harm to Marken's privacy did not outweigh the public's right to know about the teacher's conduct and how the district enforced its sexual harassment policy.

Marken, a ninth-grade teacher math teacher, appealed the decision, which was upheld in a 3-0 ruling Tuesday by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles.

"Marken occupies a position of trust and responsibility as a classroom teacher, and the public has a legitimate interest in knowing whether and how the District enforces its sexual harassment policy," the judges wrote in their ruling.

In October 2008, Marken was placed on administrative leave after the mother of one of his students accused of him sexually harassing the 13-year-old girl.

An investigator hired by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District wrote a report summarizing the evidence and in November 2008 concluded the alleged assault “more likely than not did occur.”  Marken was issued a written reprimand that barred him from any further interaction with the student and the district warned that any future incidents would result in further disciplinary action.

Marken denied the allegations and no criminal chargers were filed.

Two years later, Michael Chwe, a professor of political science at UCLA and the father of two children who attend Santa Monica High School, filed a request with the district under the California Public Records Act for all copies of documents pertaining to its investigation.

Marken responded by asking the courts to block the request, saying the disclosure of his personnel records would violate his constitutional and statutory rights of privacy.

Tuesday's ruling will force the district to release all of the records, but it will redact the girl's identity and the names of other witnesses identified in the documents.

Thomas Burke, a lawyer for the parent who sought the records in this case, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the ruling sets a strong precedent for parents who want information about complaints against teachers and school administrators.

But the teacher’s lawyer, Richard Schwab, told the newspaper that it could "open the door for any disgruntled parent, student or blogger to be able to pry into people’s personnel files..." this was a personal matter” involving a “very minor” incident, he said.