23FC:0031: Matthew Carver/Urbandale Community School District - Dismissal Order

Date:
06/15/2023

Subject:
Matthew Carver/Urbandale Community School District - Dismissal Order

Opinion:

The Iowa Public Information Board

COMES NOW, Erika Eckley, Executive Director for the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), and enters this Dismissal Order:

On March 3, 2023, Matthew Carver filed formal complaint 23FC:0031, alleging that Urbandale Community School District (District) violated Iowa Code chapter 22.

Background
This complaint concerns a public records request the complainant, Matthew Carver, sent to the District on February 1, 2023. In the request, Mr. Carver sought to obtain copies of various letters generated during the District’s investigation into allegations of misconduct made by Mr. Carver against Urbandale High School’s head boys’ varsity coach, Darby Wesley.

The District conducted a total of four investigations in response to Mr. Carver’s allegations. The letters that Mr. Carver sought in his February 1 request were generated during the fourth of these investigations. The District hired Michele Brott, an attorney at Dentons Davis Brown, to conduct this final investigation into Mr. Carver’s allegations.

In the course of that investigation, Coach Wesley submitted a number of letters from community members written in support of his character. Ms. Brott submitted a written report to the District on January 27, 2023, in which she concluded that Mr. Carver’s allegations lacked merit. The report mentioned the letters that had been submitted in support of Coach Wesley and stated that “the character references are not relevant to the accusations, but . . . are considered as part of the documents submitted.”

On February 1, 2023, Mr. Carver and Coach Wesley’s personal attorney, Brad Obermeier, engaged in an argument over email. In the course of that argument, Mr. Obermeier taunted Mr. Carver about the content of the letters, leading Mr. Carver to submit a public records request to the District to obtain them. The District denied the request and stated that the letters were confidential. Mr. Carver renewed his request for the letters multiple times in subsequent emails to the District. Eventually, he clarified that he was specifically seeking two letters: one written by Jim Wright, and the other by Jimmy Frizzell. The District denied Mr. Carver’s subsequent requests.

On March 3, 2023, Mr. Carver filed the present complaint with IPIB. In response to the complaint, the District contends that the letters are confidential under Iowa Code §§ 22.7(11) and (18). IPIB staff requested copies of the letters for review under Iowa Code § 23.6(6), which the District provided.

Analysis
Iowa Code § 22.7(11) allows a lawful custodian to withhold as confidential “[p]ersonal information in confidential personnel records of government bodies relating to identified or identifiable individuals who are officials, officers, or employees of the government bodies.” Confidentiality under this section does not extend to certain personal information, such as an individual’s name, compensation, and dates of employment.1

Documents related to the job performance of a school district employee collected during an investigation into allegations of employee misconduct are confidential under § 22.7(11), regardless of whether the documents are located in a separate investigative file or the employee’s actual personnel file. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist. Pub. Recs. v. Des Moines Reg. & Trib. Co., 487 N.W.2d 666, 670 (Iowa 1992). The plain language of Iowa Code § 22.7(11) states that records such as these related to an employee’s job performance are always designated as confidential, so no balancing test is required. ACLU of Iowa, Inc. v. Atlantic Cmty. Sch. Dist., 818 N.W.2d 231, 236 (Iowa 2012).

IPIB staff reviewed the content of the letters Mr. Carver requested. All of the letters relate directly to Coach Wesley’s job performance and were collected during the District’s investigation into the allegations of misconduct made against Coach Wesley. Therefore, the letters are confidential under § 22.7(11), and the District was not required to release them to Mr. Carver.

Because the records Mr. Carver requested are confidential under § 22.7(11), it is unnecessary to analyze whether they would also be considered confidential under § 22.7(18), and if so, whether they should be partially redacted or withheld entirely.

Conclusion
The District is not required to release the letters to Mr. Carver because the letters are considered personal information in confidential personnel records under Iowa Code § 22.7(11). In Des Moines Community School District, the Iowa Supreme Court held that documents related to an employee’s job performance are confidential personnel records protected from disclosure under § 22.7(11), despite the fact that those documents are collected in an investigative file rather than in the employee’s personnel file. The contents of the letters that Mr. Carver requested relate directly to Coach Wesley’s job performance and were collected in an investigative file belonging to the District as part of an investigation into allegations of misconduct against Coach Wesley. Therefore, the letters are confidential, and the District was not required to release them to Mr. Carver.

Iowa Code § 23.8 requires that a complaint be within the IPIB’s jurisdiction, appear legally sufficient, and have merit before the IPIB accepts a complaint. Following a review of the
allegations on their face, it is found that this complaint does not meet those requirements.

IT IS SO ORDERED: Formal complaint 23FC:0031 is dismissed as it is without merit pursuant to Iowa Code § 23.8(2) and Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(2)(b).

Pursuant to Iowa Administrative Rule 497-2.1(3), the IPIB may “delegate acceptance or dismissal of a complaint to the executive director, subject to review by the board.” The IPIB will review this Order on June 15, 2023. Pursuant to IPIB rule 497-2.1(4), the parties will be notified in writing of its decision.

By the IPIB Executive Director
_________________________
Erika Eckley, J.D.

1 Confidentiality under § 22.7(11) does not include the following personal information in personnel records: the name, compensation, and other employment terms of the individual; the dates of employment of the individual with the government body; the individual’s position within the government body; and the fact that the individual resigned in lieu of termination, was discharged, or was demoted as a result of a disciplinary action, as well as the documented
reasons for such resignation, discharge, or demotion. Iowa Code § 22.7(11)(a)(1)–(5).