A case in which Fort Bend ISD challenged a state decision to make public data available will not be reviewed by the Texas Supreme Court.
The ruling ends an attempt by the school district in the Houston region to hide the phone records of a former reporter and local media consultant.
In 2019, Wayne Dolcefino asked the district’s superintendent, school board trustees, and other district employees for phone records “including, but not limited to, text messages, photo messages, and incoming and outgoing calls… on any device on which FBISD business is conducted,” according to court documents.
Dolcefino was looking for documents pertaining to a “re-zoning controversy,” according to the Fort Bend Independent.
Requests for comment on Friday were not immediately answered by Fort Bend ISD or the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
On Friday, Dolcefino did not immediately respond when contacted.
The school district opposed Dolcefino’s request for records, claiming that district workers’ and board trustees’ personal cell phones were exempt from demands for public records.
The district’s claims were dismissed by the Open Records Division of the Texas Attorney General. It stated that because the trustees and staff used their personal cell phones to do business for the school district, they were subject to rules governing public records.
In order to prevent the records from being released, Fort Bend ISD then filed a lawsuit against the Texas Attorney General’s Office in a Travis County District Court.
The attorney general’s office won the case in the district court. The 3rd Court of Appeals, which also supported the attorney general’s office, heard an appeal from the school district.
Dolcefino asked for the documents almost five years ago. There is only one trustee from that era still on the board of Fort Bend ISD. Additionally, the superintendent who provided Dolcefino with the phone logs has departed the district.
