Court: School disciplinary records are not public

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An appeals court says the school district in Atlantic does not have to release the details of disciplinary actions taken against two employees who were responsible for strip searching female students.

The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which was seeking to learn the level of discipline taken against employees who strip-searched female students in a locker room in August 2009 during a theft investigation.

The court ruled 2-1 that employee disciplinary records are exempt from Iowa’s public records law, and the Atlantic Community School District appropriately withheld that information from the public. The district has paid $300,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the families of three girls alleging they were improperly searched.