No 'legal impediment' to E-MAILS, lawyer says

No bar to further e-mails exists, Hodge wrote in the March 12 letter, because the attorney for Bouris and Coughlin did not appeal Judge Wendy Gershengorn's Dec. 11 decision. The pair had 30 days to do so. Their attorney, Frank Mondano, did file an "emergency motion" Dec. 19, asking Judge Gershengorn to stay her decision pending appellate review. The letter was part of the School Committee's package at its March 25 meeting.

Hodge wrote: "But this motion (which has never been ruled on) is moot since Coughlin and Bouris never sought appellate review of Judge Gershengorn's decision."

The letter was written in response to a request from Superintendent Nate Levenson, who asked the law firm, which represents the School Committee, for a status report about litigation filed by Bouris and Coughlin in Middlesex Superior Court. The lawsuit names the school plus two people referred to only as  "John and/or Jane Doe (1)" and "John and/or Jane Doe (2)."

Hodge's letter provides background about the judge's December ruling, saying she "issued a lengthy decision totally denying Coughlin and Bouris' motion for a preliminary injunction." That motion "sought to prevent the disclosure of e-mails between Bouris and Coughlin using the Arlington email system," Hodge wrote.

The judge found that e-mails between the two using the Arlington system were public records under state law and that they "must be disclosed by Arlington if they were requested under the public records law," Hodge wrote.

Last July, YourArlington requested all e-mails involved in what was then an investigation of Bouris and Coughlin. Four other media outlets, including The Boston Globe and Arlington Advocate, made similar requests.

On March 26, an attorney for Stoneman, Chandler said the firm expected to mail a  package of e-mails by the end of the day to all media outlet that requested them.

In August, Judge Bruce Henry blocked release of further e-mails until privacy issues could be addressed. Judge Gershengorn ruled in that case Dec. 11.

Hodge's letter continues: "Judge Gershengorn squarely rejected Coughlin and Bouris' arguments that their e-mails were not public records or were protected by the  so-called "privacy exception" to the public records law. In short, the efforts of Coughlin and Bouris to keep these Arlington Public School emails from being treated by Arlington as public records was found to be totally without merit by the Superior Court."

At that point, the pair had 30 days to appeal, and they did not.

Since December, Coughlin and Bouris have received favorable rulings to their pleas to receive jobless benefits after lawyers for the schools declined to contest each matter. Levenson has been quoted as saying that continuing to spend legal fees to pursue these cases was not in the interest of taxpayers.

Coughlin continues to seek to be reinstated through arbitration. He was present at the School Committee meeting March 25, when members said farewell to those leaving office, Susan Lovelace and Sean Garballey.

Mondano has been asked to comment about the letter from Hodge.

Arlington Education Association President Jack Duranceau has been asked to comment about the status of arbitration.

This story was first published on ghis site on March 25, 2008.