A school board member seeking video footage and audio recordings from the Lehighton Area School District administration building will not get it via a Right To Know request, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled last week.

Director David Bradley requested “raw video or still image file records from the cameras located in the administration building’s board room and lobby between 5:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2019.”

Lehighton had a school board meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 30, preceded by an executive session at 6:15 p.m. for contract negotiations and personnel purposes.

The district denied the request and the OOR, on Jan. 10, denied Bradley’s appeal due to “a lack of jurisdiction.”

Melanie Windhorn, Lehighton’s open records officer; Patricia Denicola, district business manager and board secretary; and Peter Salerno, school police officer, submitted affidavits to the OOR as part of the appeal process.

By employing two police officers, the district argued, it is now considered a law enforcement agency, making it exempt from having to release the video recordings.

In denying Bradley’s request, the district argued that the recordings were from security cameras and disclosure would threaten infrastructure security. It also said no audio recordings from the date in question exist.

Though it said it does not have jurisdiction over Act 22, which establishes guidelines for requesting audio and video recordings in the possession of law enforcement, the OOR encouraged the district to exercise its discretion in deciding whether to release the recordings.

“Act 22 vests agencies with broad discretion to release recordings which are in the public interest,” OOR appeals officer Blake Eilers wrote. “Given the circumstance of this matter, the OOR encourages the district to reconsider exercising its discretion in releasing the responsive records, especially since there appears to be no basis for withholding the requested records under Act 22.”