By Paul Takahashi (contact)

Thursday, March 28, 2013 | 5:32 p.m.

Are teacher email addresses a matter of public record?

That's the question at the crux of Nevada Policy Research Institute's latest lawsuit against the Clark County School District. The lawsuit was filed Thursday morning.

In June 2012 and again this February, the libertarian think tank submitted formal requests with the district for a list of email addresses for nearly 18,000 Clark County schoolteachers.

NPRI communications director Victor Joecks argues teacher email addresses are public records. Joecks said NPRI was not interested in the content of teacher emails just the addresses.

"These are government-provided emails addresses, provided to government employees to do their government jobs," Joecks said. "It's public information. The School District doesn't get to act as a gatekeeper to public information."

The School District has repeatedly refused to grant NPRI's requests for a directory of teacher email addresses, arguing it is not a matter of public record.

School District email addresses are part of an employee's personnel records and therefore must be "safeguarded," district attorneys stated in letters to NPRI.

Additionally, the email directory "falls within the definition of a non-record given that it is similar to a book or pamphlet," district attorneys said. Nevada's public records laws don't apply to "non-records," which include "books and pamphlets printed by a government printer."

Read the original post:

Libertarian think tank sues School District for access to teacher email addresses