APS headquarters. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis / magazine)
Copyright © 2021
A judge earlier this week ordered Albuquerque Public Schools to pay $ 214,000 in legal fees, on top of an earlier $ 400,000 judgment against the county that came from a lawsuit by two news organizations.
The lawsuit challenged APS’s handling of public records related to the abrupt resignation of former Superintendent Winston Brooks in 2014.
Judge Nancy Franchini ordered APS to pay the $ 293,625 in April after discovering the district violated state public records inspection law. KOB-TV, which made similar record-breaking requests, received $ 118,000.
APS spokeswoman Monica Armenta said the district is not commenting on any pending litigation.
Franchini also ruled that the magazine and the KOB are entitled to reasonable attorney fees and expenses.
News agency lawyers asked the court to order APS to pay a total of $ 372,000 in legal fees and expenses.
Franchini on Monday declined some of those fees and charges, said Greg Williams, a lawyer for the news agencies.
Either side can appeal both the verdict and the legal fees.
In August 2014, Brooks stepped down as superintendent two years before the end of his contract. The then President of the School Board, Analee Maestas, said at the time that the board had discussed “a serious problem” which she described as a “confidential personnel matter”.
Maestas also said she hired an outside lawyer to write a report on the matter. Franchini has ruled that the attorney’s report was exempt from disclosure.
The Journal requested APS accounting records from the law firm, records from the school board regarding Brooks’s dismissal and allegations of wrongdoing against Brooks and his wife.
KOB-TV requested communications between APS and the attorney, records of the attorney’s report, and communications between Brooks and an APS spokeswoman.
Franchini noted that APS had failed to keep records that should have been accessible under state law for the inspection of public records, and failed to meet the deadlines prescribed therein.
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