Milwaukee TV station WTMJ-4 has filed a complaint alleging the St. Francis School Board violated the state’s open meetings law by prohibiting a reporter and her photographer from attending and filming a school board meeting.
WTMJ reporter Megan Lee and her photographer, Dan Selan, went to St. Francis High School on June 2 for that night’s School Board meeting, according to the complaint, filed June 4 with the Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel by attorney Tom Kamenick and reported June 7 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The incident was captured on video and shared with the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, which then shared it with its members statewide as an egregious violation of the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.
According to the article: While Lee and Selan were waiting for the open session to start after a closed session, Superintendent Deb Kerr asked them what they were doing there. Lee said they were there to record the meeting, and specifically wanted to see if anyone would speak at the meeting about a St. Francis coach who had been recently arrested and released from coaching duties.
Kerr said it was a family and personnel matter and that Lee and Selan could not record that. Lee responded by saying she and Selan wanted to record just the open session and not the evening’s closed session, which should be allowed under the state’s open meetings law. Kerr left, saying she would consult her lawyer.
After getting advice from her managing editor to assert their right to be there, Lee and Selan turned on their camera, the complaint said. Kerr returned and confronted the pair again, saying they were not allowed in the meeting because they did not provide advance notice or tell the district why they were there.
Kerr said she had spoken with the district’s attorney, Rob Buikema, the complaint said.
Kerr asked them to leave and threatened to call police if they didn’t. Not wanting to be arrested, Lee and Selan left. After consulting again with their studio, they returned, but discovered the public comment portion of the meeting had already concluded.
Kerr later sent Lee an email saying their intent to film public comments re- lated to the coaching matter without prior notice violated school board policy, according to the complaint. She requested that, in the future, Lee contact Kerr at least two hours before filming any meeting to allow the district to coordinate logistics and ensure compliance with district policy.
The district’s policy states recording the board’s open meetings is allowed under state law, though it is not allowed in closed sessions. It also requires advance notice so the superintendent can review possible placement of equipment and states that recording should not create obstructions or distractions during meetings.
The complaint filed by WTMJ said the board policy only suggests people “should” provide notice and that it does not require such notice.
State law says a governmental body should allow anyone who wants to record, film or photograph an open meeting as long as those actions do not interfere with the meeting or rights of the participants.
Kamenick, who filed the complaint on the TV station’s behalf, called Kerr’s behavior “absolutely egregious.”“She should really know better, and her attitude was outrageous for a public official,” Kamenick said.
In a letter to the St. Francis School District community, Kerr wrote that some reporters did attend the meeting without recording and were given the information they requested.
Kerr also apologized for the way she handled the situation. “In hindsight, I wish I had approached it differently, and I regret any frustration or uncertainty this may have caused. I recognize that the district must always balance transparency with sensitivity, and I am committed to learn and grow from moments like these,” she wrote.
Kerr said her intent was to uphold the district’s policy while being mindful of the impact of the situation involving a former junior varsity baseball coach had on the individuals and families connected to the matter.
“The safety, privacy, and well-being of our students and families remains my top priority,” she wrote.
Kerr was previously the Brown Deer School District’s superintendent from 2007 until she announced her retirement at the end of the 2019-20 school year. She ran unsuccessfully for superintendent of the state Department of Public Instruction superintendent position in 2021 and took her current position later that year.
