School District issues public statement regarding Eleonore Bednarsh
School District issues public statement regarding Eleonore Bednarsh
The Beaufort County School District issued a press release on September 3, 2010 regarding Eleonore Bednarsh, the former Director of Riverview Charter School and the lawsuit she filed in March 2010. The press release issued follows.
In March 2010, the Beaufort County School District received a new lawsuit filed by Eleonore Bednarsh, the former Director of Riverview Charter School, against the School District, Riverview Charter School, and a number of officials associated with the District and the Charter School. The lawsuit did not allege that the School District or any District officials had done anything wrong; instead, it sought access to documents that might be in the District’s possession. At the same time the lawsuit was received, the District also received several FOIA requests from Ms. Bednarsh’s attorney. The District responded to the FOIA requests on April 19, 2010, and the District’s legal counsel filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit. he District has received questions about this matter from the media, and is responding to those questions with this statement.
First, it must be emphasized that the School District and its officials never employed Ms. Bednarsh, never exercised any authority or supervision over Ms. Bednarsh’s employment, and did not terminate her employment with Riverview.
Second, Ms. Bednarsh apparently filed a document with the court offering to resolve this case for $242,000. The media has asked why the District did not accept the offer. Initially, it is unclear whether the offer was made to Riverview only or included the District. In any event, the District did not accept the offer because it does not owe Ms. Bednarsh $242,000, or any other amount.
Third, Ms. Bednarsh has asked the court for permission to amend her lawsuit papers to allege violations of the FOIA. The court has not ruled on that request yet. Our attorneys are opposing the request because the District has not violated the FOIA. The District received several FOIA requests from Ms. Bednarsh’s attorney, and responded to those requests on April 19, 2010. After responding to the requests, and also inviting Ms. Bednarsh’s attorney to clarify his requests, the District did not hear anything else about its response. We were never notified of any concerns about our response, which included the production of approximately 600 pages of documents at no cost to Ms. Bednarsh or her attorney.
In summary, the District and several District officials have been sued about a matter that does not directly involve the District, and we have responded appropriately. We regret that taxpayer funds must be spent for this purpose, but we have no alternative but to defend the District.
Related posts:
- Riverview Charter School issues statement, continues hopeful
- School district acknowledges role of The Beaufort Tribune in informing public
- Eleanore Bednarsh departs as principal of Riverview Charter School
- Editorial: Beaufort County School District ignores Riverview Charter School
- Full text of statement by School Superintendent Valerie Truesdale
