The Ohio Supreme Court announced Wednesday it will hear arguments in a lawsuit over the release of the Forest Hills School District's ICE Response Plan.
The lawsuit, filed by attorney Curt Hartman in February, alleges the Board of Education and Forest Hills treasurer Alana Cropper violated their duties by not publicly sharing the details of the district's internal response plan created in early 2026 to prepare school employees for encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on school grounds.
Hartman had requested a copy of the response plan, but received a heavily redacted version. The district told Hartman it couldn't publicly share many details in the document because it was considered a security record.
State law exempts security records of public schools or other public offices from mandatory release if the record contains information for protecting a school against attack, interference, sabotage, or acts of terrorism.
The school district asked the court to dismiss the case in March, arguing that releasing the unredacted response plan could jeopardize the staff and student, but the request was denied.
Hartman argues that releasing the full response plan will benefit the public and ensure district officials are operating openly.
"We’re glad the case is going forward so the school district will now have to justify to the court and the public, as part of its claimed justification to avoid releasing public records, its effort to equate law enforcement officers to terrorists," Hartman told WVXU.
The court has asked both parties to file evidence within the next few weeks.
WVXU reached out to Forest Hills, but did not receive a response by the time of this story's release.
Read more:
