Anonymous person sues Madison schools over records request

MADISON, Wis. — A person whose anonymous open records requests were rejected by the Madison School District -- because they wouldn’t identify who they were -- is now suing the district.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the lawsuit filed Friday demands that the school district fulfill more than two dozen open records requests the person made over a four-month period. The person who lives in Madison is not identified in the lawsuit filed by attorney Tom Kamenick, founder of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.

The lawsuit said Madison schools refused to release 21 of the requested records sought by the anonymous person and has failed to respond to five of the requests.

The district, through its spokeswoman, did not have an immediate comment on the lawsuit.

Wisconsin law allows those requesting public records to remain anonymous. It does allow an exception "whenever the requested record is kept at a private residence or whenever security reasons or federal law or regulations so require."