Des Moines Independent Community School District Public Records v. Des Moines Register & Tribune Co.

HARRIS, Justice.

A public controversy arose concerning a school administrator. Litigation ensued and was settled. This appeal concerns the accessibility of school records relating to the administrator and the litigation. The trial court, interpreting Iowa’s open records statutes, determined that a number of the records were confidential and exempt from disclosure.

The facts are stipulated. Dr. Bobbretta Williams, a nineteen-year employee of the district, was assigned as principal of Wright Elementary School in Des Moines. In November 1989 a document signed by approximately seventy parents and…