How did Pardoe, McCann and Miller all forget the 2018 Myrtle Beach room assignments email?

On August 8, 2019, Counsel for Requester, Terry Mutchler the former Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records a decorated attorney and award winning journalist in her own right; filed an appeal against the Williamsport Area School District for denying records including the recently obtained “room assignments” email.

The appeal in part is provided below and demonstrates the active measures the WASD engaged in to continue the cover-up of the “criminal sexual misconduct” committed by a baseball player on another teammate during the 2018 WAHS baseball team trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

ALLEGED PERPETRATOR #1 was recently charged by Myrtle Beach authorities. The case file is sealed due to the sensitive nature of the case and the fact that juveniles are involved.

Mr. Charles Rees Brown
Chief Counsel
Office of Open Records
333 Market Street
Harrisburg, PA 17103
Re: Appeal from RTKL Denial of Williamsport Area School District
Dear Chief Counsel Brown:
On behalf of Todd Bartley and Fox Sports Williamsport, I write to appeal to the Office of Open Records
(“OOR”) a denial of public record by the Williamsport Area School District (“District”), pursuant to the Right to
Know Law, 65 P.S. 66.101 et seq. (“RTKL”). Please enter our entry of appearance on behalf of Todd Bartley
and direct all communication on this matter to Mutchler Lyons.

 

ARGUMENT REFUTING WASD DENIAL REQUIRED BY SECTION 1101
I. RTKL FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On June 17, 2019, the Requester filed a Right-to-Know Law 65 P.S. 67.101 et seq. (“RTKL”) request with the Williamsport Area School District (“District”), seeking information relating to the high school baseball team’s trip to Myrtle Beach and an alleged assault that occurred during that trip.

On June 21, 2019, the District provided an interim response, requesting an additional thirty days in which to provide a response to the request. On July 18, 2019, the District issued a timely partial denial. Requester appeals this partial denial.

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

As the OOR states in each of its Final Determinations, the Supreme Court defined the RTKL as remedial legislation designed “to empower citizens by affording them access .to information concerning the activities of their  government.” SWB Yankees L.L.C. v. Wintermantel, 45 A.3d 1029, 1041 (Pa. 2012). Further, this records access law is designed to promote access to official government information in order to prohibit secrets, presumed public unless exempt under the RTKL or other law or protected by a privilege, judicial order or decree.” See 6S P.S. §67.305. An agency bears the burden of proving the applicability of any cited exemptions. See 65 P.S. § 67.708 (b).
Section 708 of the RTKL places the burden of proof on the public body to demonstrate that a record is exempt from disclosure. In pertinent part, Section 708(a) states: “(l) The burden of proving that a record of a Commonwealth agency or local agency is exempt from public access shall be on the Commonwealth agency or local agency receiving a request by a preponderance of the evidence.” 65 P.S. § 67.708 (a). Preponderance of the evidence has been defined as “such proof as leads the fact finder … to find that the existence of a contested fact is more probable than its nonexistence.” Pa. State Troopers Au’n v. Scolforo, 18 A.3d 435, 439 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2011). 

III. DENIALS AND GROUNDS FOR DISCLOSURE

The following are the items of the Request that were denied, and the Requester’s response to each denial:
1. Travel party list – Granted, but redacted because the record identifies children then aged 17 or younger

Requester’s position: The District needs to defend these redactions under the RTKL, offering sworn proof to the fact that the only material redacted was the name, home address, or date of birth of a child that is currently 17 years of age or younger. See 65 P.S. § 67.708(b)(30). The redactions should not be permitted for individuals who are currently of the age of majority.

2. Hotel room assignments – Denied because no record exists.

Requester’s position: The District must provide a statement made under penalty of perjury, detailing its good faith effort to ascertain this record. See 65 P.S. § 67.901 (requiring the AORO to undertake a “good faith effort”); see also Hous. Auth. of the City of Pittsburgh v. Van Osciol, 40 A.3d 209, 216 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2012) (unsworn statements are not competent evidence).

3. Receipts from accommodations – Here, the District “granted” the Request, providing only records that reflected its receipt for tournament registration.

Requester’s position: The Request did not call for tournament registration receipts, it called for “accommodation” receipts. The District may not reinterpret this request as a request for tournament registration receipts. See Madison v. Pa. Bd. of Prob. & Parole, 2019 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 531, *7, 206 A.3d 683, 2019 WL 2385099 (an agency is not permitted to answer a request according to the agency’s interpretation but must answer the request in response to the Requester’s intent/meaning).

The District argues that hotel rooms and accommodations were not paid from “District accounts.” However, if District employees paid for the accommodations and were reimbursed by the District, the receipts received by the District for that reimbursement would be subject to disclosure. RTKL jurisprudence holds that a record is “of” an agency when it documents the transactions of that agency, not only when it reflects a payment made directly from an agency account.

The entire appeal is available BartleyAppeal_8.8.19.

IV. JURISDICTION

The OOR has jurisdiction over this appeal. This Request did not seek criminal investigation records. The records for which the Section 708(b)(16) exemption is claimed are not records of a  criminal investigation, facially. For example, the Request seeks “Written documentation of first contact from law enforcement received by WASD…,” which could easily be a simple introductory letter retained for WASD’s file. The records sought are not garden-variety criminal investigatory records (e.g., a search warrant), and should not be treated as such.

It is not enough for the agency to simply cite to Section 708(b)(16), to avoid the OOR’s jurisdiction.

Rather, the agency must submit sworn proof, demonstrating exactly how the requested records fall under the criminal investigation exemption. See Bush v. Westtown-East Goshen Police Dep’t, OOR Dkt. AP 2016-1869, 2016 PA O.O.R.D. LEXIS 1708.

V. CONCLUSION

We ask that the OOR hold WASD to its burden of proof required under the RTKL, and order disclosure of these public records.

Respectfully submitted,
Terry Mutchler, Managing Partner
Charlie Lyons, Partner
Mutchler Lyons
219 S. State Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Counsel for Requester

In response to the appeal, the WASD filed a myriad of legal extension requests and agreed to a mediation session with Counsel for Requester and the OOR.

From the TalkWilliamsport.com article, Sean McCann missteps; “we dealt with it immediately, when we learned of it”:

When Williamsport Athletic Director Sean McCann told a concerned parent who inquired about the Myrtle Beach case; “we dealt with it immediately, when we learned of it”, did he inadvertently let the closely held secret out of the bag?

The documented record uncovered during the TalkWilliamsport.com investigation seems to support that premise.

The web untangled in a major way on Saturday, May 9, 2020:

According to the RADIO SHOW CALLER CLAIMS in PART XVI:

“I like know specifically what happened there and

the people involved knew instantaneously after it happened.

The parents of everyone involved knew instantaneously after it happened.

There’s was no cover-up.

It’s not, it’s not the general public’s business what happened there.

The parents of everyone involved knew.

I agree that the student involved should have never been allowed back on the high school baseball team, but there was no cover-up.”

 

The family of JOHN DOE #1 was not in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina since they had not made the trip.

However, the family of ALLEGED PERPETRATOR #1 was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the photos at local bars posted to social media, verify that.

Background for this story, on February 17, 2015, Sean McCann was Named Region II Athletic Director of the Year.

 

On further background for this story and as referenced in “A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball” – PART I

“According to documentation obtained from the Williamsport Area School District through a Right to Know Law Request,

the only adult supervisors that had provided clearances and passed background checks were;

 

NO ROOM LIST AND NO CHAPERONES

As part of the Appeal from RTKL Denial of Williamsport Area School District undertaken by Talk Williamsport filed with the OOR on August 8, 2019, the WASD under the penalty of perjury offered the following answers from Wanda Erb, in an affidavit on October 8, 2019:

I, Wanda Erb, hereby declare, pursuant to 18 Pa. CS 4904, that the following statements are true and correct based upon my personal knowledge information and belief:

6. Regarding Requestor’s fourth request, all of the chaperones on the trip were district employees, coaches, or volunteer coaches. No other adult chaperones accompanied the baseball team to Myrtle Beach.

From the June 17, 2019 RTKL Request

2). The hotel room assignments as outlined by the WASD Baseball Coaching Staff for the baseball team trip to Myrtle Beach during the 2017-2018 school year.

WASD Responded in the July 18, 2019 RTKL denial

2. Hotel room assignments – Denied because no record exists.

The WASD Baseball team trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina did not have a hotel room assignment list at the Atlantica Resort with no adult chaperones and only the district employees, coaches, or volunteer coaches.

Talk Williamsport has independently confirmed

the two administrators did not stay on property at the Atlantica Resort.

 

Talk Williamsport appealed the WASD July 18, 2019 RTKL denial

As filed by Terry Mutchler on behalf of Talk Williamsport :

Requester’s position: The District must provide a statement made under penalty of perjury, detailing its good faith effort to ascertain this record. See 65 P.S. § 67.901 (requiring the AORO to undertake a “good faith effort”); see also Hous. Auth. of the City of Pittsburgh v. Van Osciol, 40 A.3d 209, 216 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2012) (unsworn statements are not competent evidence).

Again, Wanda Erb in the October 8, 2019 Affidavit W. Erb RTK Appeal – Oct. 8, 2019 offered the following response:

4. Regarding Requestor’s second request, I conducted a thorough examination of files in the possession, custody and control of the Agency for records responsive to the request.

As these types of records would be in the possession of the athletic director or head coach, I spoke with WASD Athletic Director Sean McCann and former head baseball coach Ryan Miller.

At the time the request was made (6-17-19 original RTK request), neither Mr. McCann nor Mr. Miller had any record identifying which players were assigned to which hotel room.

Accordingly, I have made the determination that the records requested are not within the Agency’s possession, custody or control. 

 

 

Since TalkWilliamsport.com exposed the secret and the cover-up the mindset changed to attack the author and marginalize him; just like the FAMILY OF JOHN DOE #1 at the outset of the incident in Myrtle Beach.

 

From PART XVI

CAMPAIGN TO MARGINALIZE TALK WILLIAMSPORT CONTINUES

Even as PART XIII and PART XIV were published, WASD administrators were still trying to persuade concerned parents that this series is all a myth.

Williamsport Area High School Athletic Director Sean McCann who was in Myrtle Beach as noted in this series; authored a recent e-mail to a WASD parent who voiced concerns after reading Part XIII and Part XIV.

The e-mail to the concerned parent has been provided to Talk Williamsport.

“The author of these articles is way out of line and has severely exaggerated the information.

We dealt with it immediately, when we learned of it,

it was never shared on social media as he believes in his writings.

We met with the mother the day after we learned of things and

worked with the family for over an entire year.

It was dealt with and the unfortunate thing,

this author keeps bringing it up, keeps hurting the kids,

bringing it up all this time afterwards just keeps hurting the kids,

that’s the frustrating thing.”

–Sean

 

Based on the well documented paper trail of evidence of those involved in their own words; did Wanda Erb in her official capacity as the WASD Right to Know Officer having previously denied the “room assignments” email and now miraculously providing it; just implicate former head baseball coach Ryan Miller, WAHS Athletic Director Sean McCann and WAHS head principal Brandon Pardoe in a conspiracy to withhold public records as well as conspiracy to commit perjury?

The perjury occurred by providing the “room assignments” email having previously made sworn statements under the “penalty of perjury” in a affidavit to the Office of Open Records that “no record exists”, on multiple occasions.

Was the reasoning “this will be no big deal”?

Or was a more sinister plan in play devised by members of the administration in concert with the blessing of the WASD school board and undertaken by WASD Solicitors Fred Holland and Jeff Rowe?

TalkWilliamsport .com has obtained the invoices for legal services performed by the law firm Murphy, Butterfield and Holland relating to the 2018 WAHS baseball team trip to Myrtle Beach as well as the work performed on the RTKL requests filed by this author.

The WASD response to the article “Millionaire Baseball Mayhem in Myrtle Beach” is so preposterous it is something only they would do; and it had nothing to do with providing public records or as former WASD teacher and current Williamsport Mayor Derek Slaughter claims his administration engages in with the public; being transparent.

According to WASD sources Wanda Erb as well as WAHS head principal Brandon Pardoe are currently on vacation coinciding with the Easter Holiday.

Whether those vacations from the WASD remain temporary or permanent is in the hands of Dr. Tim Bowers, WASD Superintendent and members of the WASD school board.

Information related to the separate interviews Dr. Bowers and WAHS head principal Brandon Pardoe had with the Office of Attorney General Josh Shapiro is forthcoming.

“The Beginning of the End” is forthcoming.

 

LINKS TO THE SERIES PUBLISHED BY Talk Williamsport

How did Wanda Erb miss this email on the WASD.org server? – PART II

– A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXVII

How did Wanda Erb miss this email on the WASD.org server?

– A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXVI

WAHS Principal Pardoe immediately responded to Ricky Stryker threat raised by Coach Ryan Miller

Marc Schefsky, WASD School Board member announces intention to resign

WASD School Board candidate petitions obtained, connections run deep

WASD School Board to discuss vacant board seat tonight

Lycoming County District Attorney office confirms receipt of Marc Schefsky non-WASD residency complaint

WASD school board removes 2023 Disney band trip from agenda

Residents circulate petition for immediate removal of Marc Schefsky from WASD school board

Nancy Somers resigns from WASD school board

BREAKING NEWS: Resignations to be announced at the WASD School Board meeting tonight

WASD solicitor Fred Holland wants $20,000 retainer and a raise for ’21-’22

UPDATE: WASD acknowledges existence of “room assignments” email, contradicts prior Wanda Erb affidavit

UPDATE: WASD has 48-hour deadline to respond to Right to Know Law requests

WASD School Board major changes are forthcoming

OP-ED: Another Embarrassing Display of Willful Ignorance by the WASD school board

OP-ED: Long past time for Dr. Bowers to resign as WASD Superintendent

BREAKING NEWS: Is the WASD finally acknowledging Myrtle Beach victims with new policy?

Marc Schefsky WASD school board resignation could be the least of his issues

BREAKING NEWS: Marc Schefsky resigning from school board after WASD residency questioned

Residency of WASD School Board member in question

BREAKING NEWS: WAHS student criminally charged by South Carolina authorities in 2018 baseball team incident

UPDATE: Major development in the 2018 WAHS baseball team “criminal sexual misconduct” case

WASD lack of response clock posted

WASD fails to acknowledge “victims” in Myrtle Beach incident; uses death of George Floyd as distraction

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXV

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXIV

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXIII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XXI

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XX

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XIX

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XVIII

BREAKING NEWS: PA AG Press Office confirms receipt of Criminal Sexual Misconduct referral from DA Gardner

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XVII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XVI

EXCLUSIVE: AG Shapiro press office on referral: “If and when we receive it, it will be promptly reviewed”

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XVII

BREAKING NEWS: PA AG Press Office confirms receipt of Criminal Sexual Misconduct referral from DA Gardner

UPDATE: Charges filed in Greater Latrobe Junior High hazing case cited in “A Baseball Story”

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XVI

EXCLUSIVE: AG Shapiro press office on referral: “If and when we receive it, it will be promptly reviewed”

BREAKING NEWS: District Attorney Gardner refers Myrtle Beach case to PA Attorney General – PART XV

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XIV

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XIII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART XI

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART X

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART IX

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART VIII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART VII

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART VI

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART V

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART IV

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART III

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART II

A Baseball Story In The Birthplace Of Little League Baseball – PART I

Fans often ask me, what if?

Millionaire Baseball Mayhem in Myrtle Beach