Commonwealth Court grants injunction to Pennsylvania teachers union
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The home addresses of public school employees are private, at least until a state Supreme Court decision.
Commonwealth Court this week issued an order in the case which began in 2009 when the Pennsylvania State Education Association filed a court petition after the state Right to Know Law was passed. The PSEA has been seeking a declaration that the addresses of school employees are exempt from disclosure under the state Constitution and state law.
The most recent order provides an injunction preventing the release of addresses until the state Supreme Court decides whether to issue its own injunction. So it remains to be seen whether the injunction will last until the top court resolves the case itself.
Tom Scott, an attorney representing the PSEA, said, “I believe that the case is important because the public’s right to know the affairs of government has to stop at the front door of the homes of public employees. There is no need for anyone to know where a teacher lives or a principal lives or where, frankly, anybody else lives.”
While address information can be found by name in voter or real estate records, he said there is no single place where all of the information, along with place of employment, is linked in a list of the employees of a school district.
“If you know where I live and you know what time I go to work and come home from work, you’re Commonwealth Court grants injunction to Pennsylvania teachers union | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
