Right to Know request yielded number of sports injuries

On Sept. 2, 2022, I filed a Right to Know Request with the New Hope-Solebury School District asking for a copy of the forms that the parents/guardians of fifth graders filled out who wanted to withdraw their children from the District with all information redacted except for the date and time of day if sent by email from Sept. 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022.

I stipulated that I did not want any personal information that would identify who the children were. In spite of this, the district denied my request by stating “No Responsive Records.”

Subsequently, I filed an appeal with the Office of Open Records (OOR), which granted my appeal on Oct. 27.

The reasoning given by the OOR is as follows: “Redacting the withdrawal forms of any identifying information sufficiently de-identifies the forms such that they may be released under the [ Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act ] (FERPA). Additionally, with the redaction of identifying information, there is no constitutional right to privacy concerns for the OOR to address.”

Since the OOR concurred with my interpretation of the law, the transparency door for the free flow of information is now opened for the number of students and circumstances involved in suffering concussions and major leg injuries, which I feel is vital in the understanding and future prevention of injuries in sports.

One injury is one too many. Thus at the conclusion of every season, school districts should publish the number of injuries for each sport and even before and during the season hold seminars for the athletes, their parents and the public seminars titled, “How can you prevent injuries not only during the game but in preparation for the game,” and inviting sports medicine people who are expert in their field.

Finally, please note that even though just one child was removed from the fifth grade, there were a total of 53 students throughout the district who were removed last year by their parents/guardians.

Melvin Band, New Hope

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