Open and accountable

Court should reject call for secrecy

“Everybody knows that corruption thrives in secret places, and avoids public places, and we believe it a fair presumption that secrecy means impropriety.”

— President Woodrow Wilson

It is ironic that the Huntsville School District, caught up in a student sexual harassment and abuse scandal of a magnitude few others in these parts rival, is pushing for secrecy in the resulting litigation in federal court.

It was, after all, secrecy that got this entire mess started. And, if permitted to be relied upon, it will be secrecy that gives cover to those who must face accountability.

Lawyers representing the district have asked a federal judge to seal the civil case, brought by a parent. Shielding the case, including courtroom proceedings, from public view, the school district contends, is necessary to protect the identities of victims and other students caught up the disturbing allegations.

In June, the Madison County Record reported on an investigation of possible violations of the federal Title IX. Such investigations most often involve allegations of sexual discrimination, harassment and assault.

Previously, the Huntsville School Board had expelled two students for a year and suspended three others for participating in a hazing-style practice known among the students as “baptizing.” In mid-June, the school board reduced those punishments for two and overturned the suspensions of the other three.

The investigation happened as a result of allegations some junior high boys basketball players were restrained by other team members in the locker room while others undressed and placed exposed genitals in or on the restrained boys’ faces, according to documents and interviews provided to the newspaper. The lawsuit also alleges that the victims were threatened by the perpetrators not to reveal what happened to them to their parents or school officials.

School board members told upset parents they should run for the school board if they didn’t like the outcome. While that’s undoubtedly an option on every issue, such comments are a lousy response to concerned parents, especially ones who believe their children have been assaulted.

No criminal charges have been filed, or at least publicly acknowledged.

In the midst of this controversy the school board has also been sued on allegations a meeting last spring to discuss the assault accusations wasn’t announced to the public. That would be a violation of state law designed to make such public bodies accountable to those who elected them.

It would be a disservice to the community if what began in secrecy was further permitted to continue in secrecy.

But what about those student privacy concerns? It’s a fair point. But history strongly suggests there are many ways short of concealment of court proceedings to provide protection. These juvenile victims and the alleged perpetrators are not adults and shouldn’t be treated that way. It’s worth noting that reputable media organizations respect boundaries that help protect young people. Certainly the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette isn’t anxious to start naming names of young students entangled in this, and the Madison County Record has already demonstrated great care in its reporting.

But secrecy must not extend to the systems or the adults involved in this controversy. If anything, allegations of these assaults — including the possibility these hazing practices had been carried out in the past — suggests a lack of adequate supervision and, as they say in the college ranks, a lack of institutional control.

That’s not a student privacy issue; that’s an accountability issue, and open court proceedings can help get to the heart of it, which may be a reason school district lawyers would rather everything be kept behind closed doors.

Darrell Evans, a Canadian freedom of information advocate, once said “Bureaucracy always seeks the path of least disclosure.” That’s not a path the courts should endorse.

Huntsville residents are being well served by their weekly newspaper, which last week asked to intervene in the federal lawsuit, not on one side or the other as far as allegations go, but in opposition to the school district’s efforts to limit publicity about the case. That’s a move in the public’s interests.

We hope the judge recognizes the balance between privacy and the need for the public to witness efforts within the judicial system to ferret out facts and, where appropriate, hold responsible parties accountable.

Too often, statutes, rules and policies designed to protect children serve mostly to protect those adults who failed the children.

The reason court hearings are normally open is so the public can evaluate how the courts handle these kinds of disputes. This is about who the responsible adults were and whether they acted appropriately when the opportunity came. In this case, the adults are public employees and elected officials.

Courts can, and have, protected young people without giving full cover to those whose actions may have allowed those young people to be harmed in the first place.

Huntsville school officials need to provide answers, to the court and to the public.