The Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown Borough. (Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com)
A Pennsylvania court has affirmed a lower court’s decision to impose $3,000 in sanctions against Bucks County government for “bad faith” denials of public records requests stemming from a local activist’s inquiries into the county’s COVID-19 school guidance.
The Commonwealth Court issued an opinion last week upholding two $1,500 penalties against the county government.
The sanctions were levied for the county’s failure to produce documents and its insufficient justification for withholding others, according to the opinion.
The case originated from three Right-to-Know Law requests filed in February 2022 by Megan Brock, a local activist and mother who now works as a reporter for a conservative news outlet.
Brock sought electronic communications related to the Bucks County Health Department’s COVID-19 school guidance and amended school guidance.
“The county government egregiously targeted my civil rights by wrongfully withholding public records,” Brock said, adding she was “grateful for this legal victory” and believes the case sets a statewide precedent.
Brock was supported in her legal efforts by the conservative legal activism group Judicial Watch, and Pennsylvania-based attorney J. Chadwick Schnee assisting in the case.
“This is a nice victory for transparency and accountability over arrogant local officials who abused citizens and schoolchildren over COVID,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
A spokesperson for Bucks County government and the county commissioners – two Democrats and one Republican – declined to comment on the ruling.
The county initially denied or partially denied Brock’s requests, citing exemptions for personal identification information, agency deliberations, statements of policy and attorney-client privilege.
Megan Brock speaking in 2022. (Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com)Brock appealed to the state Office of Open Records, which found the county’s explanations for withholding records insufficient and noted a lack of evidence for a good-faith search.
Bucks County’s attorneys then appealed the Office of Open Records’ determinations to the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.
The county court ordered the release of several documents and imposed the sanctions after ruling county officials failed to produce documents that “clearly existed, fell within the RTKL requests at issue, and were not protected from disclosure by any exemption under the RTKL.”
Following that loss, the county’s attorneys appealed to the Commonwealth Court, which issued its ruling this week.
Brock, along with fellow parent Jamie Walker, has sought for years to obtain additional records related to the Bucks County Health Department’s 2021 COVID-19 guidance on masking and quarantines at schools.
Brock, Walker and others were upset when the county health department’s 2021 guidance changed from allowing schools to make their own policies to following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations.
While public records reviewed by this news organization in the past have not revealed a smoking gun on how the decision came together, public statements and records have indicated a call from doctors to Bucks County Health Department Director Dr. David Damsker raised alarms that severe pediatric COVID-19 cases could overwhelm children’s hospitals in the region was a driving factor.
Emails and a public letter also showed then-Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Alison Beam issued a letter to the Bucks County Commissioners and top leaders urging them to update county schools’ guidance to better match state and federal recommendations.
The statewide school masking policy was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in December 2021.
After that ruling, Damsker’s office did not issue a firm mask mandate, and school districts made their own policies.
In 2022, LevittownNow.com reviewed the county’s public records request logs and found Brock was among the most prolific requesters of documents, a practice protected under the state’s open records law.
How to submit a Right-To-Know request to state, county, and municipal governments, school districts, and authorities:
Determine which state or local government agency has the records you want. Each has an appointed open records officer.
Requesters can use the state’s Standard Right-to-Know Law Request Form from the agency’s website.
Fill it Out:
To submit the form, send it via mail, email, fax, or in-person to the open records officer. Retain a copy for your own records.
Under the law, agencies have 5 business days to respond (they can extend to 30 days). Fees may apply for copies. If denied, you can appeal to the Office of Open Records within 15 business days.
