August 11, 2017

Mr. David Hardy, Jr., Deputy Superintendent of Academics at Saint Louis Public
Schools & Lorain City Schools CEO via email davidhardyedu@gmail.com

Mr. Hardy:

Pursuant to ORC 149.43, we request the following information in electronic or

hard copy format. This request supplements the initial request made of Lorain
City Schools, the ODE and Atlantic Research Partners on August 4, 2017. Time is
of the essence so please send the information as it becomes available, do not
hold until all information is gathered.

We have reason to believe that the Academic Distress Commissions

private hiring process for the new CEO violated Ohio Sunshine Laws
and therefore may be void as a matter of law. Accordingly, we are
requesting public records to understand the process the Commission followed in
hiring you. Given the short time frame from advertising the position to
narrowing the field to five to selecting a candidate and negotiating an
employment contract, we seek to understand how the process followed
applicable laws.

The Ohio Attorney Generals Office provides clear guidance about

public meeting requirements, applicable sections highlighted below:

The Open Meetings Act requires public bodies in Ohio to conduct all public
business in open meetings that the public may attend and observe. This means
that if a public body is meeting to discuss and vote on or otherwise decide public
business, the meeting must be open to the public. ORC 121.22. Public bodies
must notify the public when and where each meeting will take place and
generally must give notice of the matters to be discussed. A public body must
keep full and accurate minutes of its meetings, and those meetings must be
promptly prepared, filed and made available for public inspection. ORC
121.22(C).

Executive Sessions are initiated when a member makes a motion for a closed-
door session and the public body votes on it. These sessions are attended by
only members of the public body and persons they invite. Executive sessions
may be held for only afew specific purposes. No votes may be taken or
decisions made during the executive session on the matter discussed. Members
have to reconvene their public meeting and then openly conduct a vote. ORC
121.22(G)(H).

If a citizen believes that a public body has violated the Open Meetings
Act, that citizen may file an injunctive action in common pleas court to
compel the public body to obey the Act. If an injunction is issued, the
public body must correct its actions, may have to pay court costs and must pay a
fine of $500. Whichever party loses the lawsuit pays the reasonable attorneys
fees of the other party as ordered by the court.

Any action taken by a public body while that body is in violation of the
Open Meetings Act is invalid (emphasis added). ORC 121.22(H).

In this case, we understand that there was a public meeting of the Academic
Distress Commission on July 17th in which there was an executive session held.
Subsequent to that executive session, interviews were held on July 18 and 19.
The next public action was to hire Mr. David Hardy on July 24. There were no
meetings posted, no agendas shared and no opportunity for deliberation or
discussion by the Academic Distress Commission members in a way meets the
requirements of the Sunshine Laws. Simply put there seems to have been
discussions and/or negotiations outside of the proper process and in
violation of Sunshine Laws and the Open Meetings Act.

We believe that the above chain of events is but one violation of the
law, and that review of the documents provided in response to this
public records request may uncover more violations.

The Ohio Attorney Generals Office provides clear guidance about

public records, applicable sections highlighted below:

ORC 149.43(A)(1) defines public records as follows: "Public record" means

records kept by any public office, including, but not limited to, state, county, city,
village, township, and school district units, and records pertaining to the delivery
of educational services by an alternative school in this state kept by the nonprofit
or for-profit entity operating the alternative school pursuant to section 3313.533
of the Revised Code.

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Please note that while we hope to avoid litigation on this matter, we will take the
proper legal actions necessary to compel disclosure of the below-listed public
documents. We note that on July 20, 2017, while Jim Hager was quoted in the
Chronicle Telegram stating that as a private firm it is not subject to release
them [the applicants], that this assertion is erroneous and contrary to
well-settled law.

We urge Mr. Hager and his company officials to review State ex rel. Plain Dealer
Publishing Co. v. Cleveland (1996), 75 Ohio St.3d 31, 661 N.E.2d 187, and State
ex rel. Gannett Satellite Info. Network v. Shirey (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 400, 678
N.E.2d 557 or any manual regarding Ohio public records law including the
Attorney General Sunshine Law Handbook or the Ohio County Commissioners
Handbook published by the County Commissioners Association of Ohio which
states in part:

3. Resumes and Application Materials

There is no public records exception which generally protects resumes and

application materials obtained by public offices in the hiring process. The
Ohio Supreme Court has found that the public has an unquestioned public
interest in the qualifications of potential applicants for positions of
authority in public employment (State ex rel. Consumer News Services,
Inc. v. Worthington Bd. of Educ., 97 Ohio St. 3d 58). For example, when a
city board of education used a private search firm to help hire a new
treasurer, it was required to disclose the names and resumes of the
interviewees. The fact that a public office has promised confidentiality to
applicants is irrelevant. A public offices obligation to turn over application
materials and resumes extends to records in the sole possession of private
search firms used in the hiring process.

As with any other category of record, if an exception for home address,

social security number, or other specific record applies, it may be used to
redact only the protected information.

It should be also noted that the Ohio Supreme Court has found that Ohios Open
Meetings Act prohibits any private, prearranged discussion of public business by
a majority of the members of a public body regardless of whether the discussion
occurs face-to-face, telephonically, by videoconference or electronically by email,
text, tweet or other form of communication (White v. King, 2016-Ohio-2770.)
Meetings of a public body must be open to the public at all times. As a result, a
public body may not conduct a meeting solely by teleconference or any other

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means that would prevent the public or a majority of the members of the public
body from attending the meeting in person (2009 Ohio Atty. Gen.Ops. No. 2009-
034).

Accordingly, we request the following public information from Mr.

Hardy:

1. Copy of any consulting agreement between Mr. Hardy and Atlantic

Research Partners and/or any subsidiary [Mr. Hardys resume states that
he has been an Education Consultant and conducted school and district
leadership consulting since 2010 continuing to the present].

2. Any and all documentation submitted to Atlantic Research Partners as part

of the application process.

3. Any and all expenses, expense requests, documentation and/or

reimbursement payments or requests for publicly-funded reimbursements
stemming from traveling to Lorain or other location in pursuit of the CEO
position, including but not limited to: travel, meals, mileage, hotel
accommodations, background checks, or other reimbursement.

4. Copies of all emails sent or received from July 1, 2017 to August 10, 2017
regarding the Lorain CEO position, search or any other public education
topic to or from any email, including davidhardyedu@gmail.com and any
public email account controlled by Mr. Hardy in the St. Louis School
District.

5. A copy of his employment contract with St. Louis Schools, any requests for
reimbursements through publicly funded means, including but not limited to
travel expenses, educational expenses, mileage and meals.

6. A statement indicating the amount of income reported to the IRS at the

end of the year by St. Louis Schools for Mr. David Hardy in 2015 and 2016.

Thank you and we look forward to receiving our records.

Tony DiMacchia
Lorain City Schools
President, Board of Education & Lorain Taxpayer