There’s a fight brewing over Right-To-Know requests made by two parent activists to Bucks County government.
Last Wednesday outside of the Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown Borough, Megan Brock, of Northampton Township, and Jamie Walker, of New Britain Township, held a press conference to bring a spotlight to their fight to obtain records related to the Bucks County Health Department’s 2021 COVID-19 guidance around masking and quarantines at schools.
The two and others associated with their mission to find documents related to the county health department’s changing 2021 guidance from allowing schools to make the policy to following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations leading up to the start of the 2021-2022 school year have filed numerous Right-To-Know requests with county government and school districts.
So far, the records reviewed by this news organization haven’t revealed a smoking gun on how the decision came together, but public statements and public 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 as a driving factor. Emails uncovered and a letter made public showed then-Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Alison Beam sent the Bucks County Commissioners and top leaders a letter asking them to update county schools’ guidance to better conform with state and federal guidance.
After consultation with school officials, Damsker in summer 2021 advised school districts they didn’t have to require masks and could change quarantine policy when the 2021-2022 school year began. At the time, cases were low in the county, mitigation measures were well-known, and hospitals were able to manage patient levels. Following the mid-August 2021 phone call with regional hospital officials and after initial guidance was released, Damsker then recommended following the CDC guidance that called for masking.
However, the county’s guidance would be paused just before classes resumed as the state health department issued a mandate for masking of students across the state. The statewide school masking policy was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in December.
Once the court overturned the statewide policy, Damsker’s office didn’t issue a firm mask mandate and school districts made their own policies.
Brock and Walker, both opponents of the summer 2021 federal guidance that put masks on students in classrooms amid the pandemic, have made it their mission to try to unravel the Bucks County decision and, nearly a year later, have kept up their efforts as they seek public records.
While the duo and those supporting them have filed numerous Right-To-Know requests to county government and received hundreds of pages of documents, Walker is upset the county is taking her to court on two record denials that the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled had to be turned over. The county’s attorneys didn’t agree and are appealing the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ decision to Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.
Walker is seeking “all emails to and from” Bucks County Commission Diane Ellis-Marseglia’s account from August 2, 2021, to August 31, 2021, and September 1, 2021, to September 30, 2021.
The county argued to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records that the request was too broad and needed to be more specific.
It is not uncommon for public agencies to ask those making record requests to narrow down their requests or make them more specific to ease the burden of reviewing records. Some records don’t have to be turned over under the law or may be redacted.
The state’s open record law allows requesters to appeal denials to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. If the requester or agency disagrees with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ decision, either party can appeal it to the courts, as the county is doing in Walker’s cases.
Walker said she wants the county to turn over the records as part of her quest to find out how the health department arrived at their guidance that impacted more than 80,000 students.
Brock, in her requests that were appealed, is seeking electronic communications between the commissioners and county staffers as part of her dive into the mitigation guidance.
While the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ordered the county to turn over records that were denied, the county appealed the ruling to the court of common pleas.
The Pennsylvania Office of Open Records noted in their ruling that they did not find the county acted in bad faith, but Brock and Walker disagree.
Brock called for the commissioners – two Democrats and one Republican – to stop spending county resources to appeal the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records rulings.
“We need to find the truth,” Brock said.
The two maintain their effort isn’t political, but it is focused on getting to the bottom of what happened.
Brock, a committeeperson in her home municipality for the Republican party, said people should be outraged the commissioners are allowing the county to fight them in court.
Walker and her husband, Rich, said they have spent as much as $25,000 to $30,000 on Right-To-Know requests since November 2021.
Brock said she is talking to legal groups about funding her fight for the records.
Fundraising has taken place for separate Right-To-Know request fights the two are connected to.
During last Wednesday’s commissioners’ meeting, Brock asked the governing body how much money they will spend the “sue two soccer moms to prevent you from handing over records.”
Several supporters of Brock and Walker spoke to the commissioners to argue the records should be turned over.
Joe Khan, the solicitor for Bucks County, said there has been an increased volume of Right-To-Know requests made to the county in the past two years, leading to as many as a dozen a week.
Khan took issue with Brock and Walker’s characterization that the county was suing them. He explained the open records process and noted the county is exerting its right to appeal the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records decision, as the requester also can.
The county’s top lawyer said 73-percent of pending Pennsylvania Office of Open Records appeals involving the county involve Brock, Walker, and an unnamed man.
LevittownNow.com requested a list of all Right To Know filings with county government from January 2020 up until last week. The request was fulfilled by a county spokesperson and the solicitor’s office.
Since fall 2021, Brock and Walker have been responsible for more than 80 record requests out of hundreds submitted to the Bucks County Law Department. Public records show Brock and Walker have become among the most prolific requesters of county government over the past year.
Bucks County Commissioner Chairperson Bob Harvie, a Democrat, highlighted that Brock, Walker, and the man whose name wasn’t stated by officials have been responsible for a significant number of the requests.
Walker raised the issue that she found Ellis-Marseglia had two email addresses. She queried whether there was an attempt to hide communications by using a second email.
Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia said it was standard practice in county government. One email address is public facing, and the other is for internal emails, but both said the addresses are public and known.
Ellis-Marseglia explained that a broad request for thousands of commissioner emails is hard to pull off due to the time and effort. She said confidential items need to be redacted from emails and each one reviewed.
“It helps when people get their requests smaller,” she said, noting reviewing thousands of emails costs taxpayer dollars to sift through.
Harvie said there’s no conspiracy involving the guidance, stating there have been lots of records turned over already.
Gene DiGirolamo, a Republican who was a state representative when the open records law was created, said residents have the right to request documents. He also noted the requestor or the agency have the ability to appeal Pennsylvania Office of Open Records decisions.
“That gives the people on both sides the ability to appeal,” he said.
“You have every right to file these requests. But there’s an appeal process for you and the entity where you filed the request,” he said.
Court dates for the Right-To-Know appeal cases are pending.
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