The battle between Hamilton Southeaster (HSE) Schools and WTHR’s 13Investigates team over fact disclosure of a prominent coach’s suspension has just been tilted in WTHR’s favor.  Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt issued a ruling earlier this month finding HSE in violation of state law by not disclosing more facts related to a 5-day suspension handed to Fishers High School Varsity Football Coach Rick Wimmer.

In his decision, Mr. Britt wrote, “HSE has not provided sufficient information to give the Complainant (WTHR) a reasonable idea of why the teacher was suspended.”

Britt also wrote that he does not find HSE Schools to be ill-intentioned.  Here is the final paragraph of the ruling:

“To be clear, I have discussed this matter at length with HSE and their argument is not ill-intentioned or in bad faith. However, as the State of Indiana’s authority on matters of public access, I gave the school an opportunity to correct what I determined to be a deficiency. Therefore I consider the non-compliance of my recommendation in Opinion of the Public Access Counselor 17-FC-09 to be a violation of the spirit and intent of Ind. Code § 5-14-3-4(b)(8)(C).”

It should be noted that the 13Investigates team won not one, but two Peabody Awards at the recent ceremony.  It is rare for a local television news team to win one Peabody, much less two in one year.  The Peabody Awards have been described as the journalism equivalent of the Oscars.

The question now is how HSE Schools will respond to this strong statement from the Public Access Counselor.

Gerry Lanosga, a journalism professor at Indiana University, told WTHR this ruling breaks new ground in public access law for the State of Indiana. “This advisory opinion gives guidance to agencies all over the state and it stretches beyond Fishers,” Lanosga said. “Parents, media, citizens across the state can use this opinion to gain access to similar records.”

You can access the WTHR story at this link.