It's a jungle out there

Georgia Dunn was not surprised when she learned that Ohio school districtsperformed poorly in an Ohio Coalition for Open Government study gaugingcompliance of the state’s open-records law.

The audit’sresults, released in June, showed school districts released records the same dayor the next less than 30 percent of the time -- the lowest rate of any typeof public body included in the statewide audit.

Dunn, Ohio JournalismEducation Association state director, said compliance with open-records laws hasnot been a high priority for schools.

School board pays $35,000 to settle Wooster Blade censorship lawsuit

In February, a U.S. district court judge denied the student journalists’ request to prohibit the school district from conducting further prior review of the Wooster Blade. However, the judge did recognize that the student newspaper had greater protection than provided by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Hazelwood ruling because the school had opened the publication as a public forum for student expression.