RENO, Nev. (KRNV & MyNews4.com) - More secrecy from the Washoe County School District. Now Washoe County won't even tell the public if someone is still an employee.
For two days the Fact Finder Team has asked by phone and e-mail if a Lemon Valley Elementary principal who had been placed on leave still had a job. A district spokesperson said she had to check with the legal department, but never got back to us.
This comes after weeks of wanting to know why the principal was placed on leave in the first place, but the district won't give any details saying its policy not to. So now News 4's going straight to those policy makers to find out why they would want to hide this information.
Normally all media requests or communications with the schools go through a district spokesperson. But after not getting a response, News 4 reached out directly yesterday morning to all the board members and the leadership team with an e-mail. So far no one in the non-elected leadership has gotten back to us. And only one of your elected board members has contacted us.
Reading from the e-mail directly it says: "We at News 4 are simply asking: why are the Washoe County School District actions it's policy? We want to know: Why? The answer that we have received is essentially "because it is - now stop asking."
For weeks now News 4 has questioned the legal reasons the district will not say why an elementary school principal was placed on administrative leave. But instead of getting an explanation, the school attorney only says "that's the way we interpret the case law." Repeatedly we've also been denied on-camera interviews.
Here's why this is so important - as the school is not turning over a reason for the principal being placed on administrative leave, rumors keep flying around with questions about your children's safety or tax dollars are at risk. And at this point, we're really much more interested in the actions of the school district than what that principal did or did not do.
We here at News 4 understand there are sometimes reasons for keeping the information secret. The Fact Finder Team would just like the district to explain - as they are required to do by a 2011 Nevada Supreme Court decision - what their interest in non-disclosure is, and why it outweighs the public's right to know.
And now, the school district will not even say if this person works for them.