From yesterday's Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision in Gierl v. Mequon-Thiensville School Dist. (written by Presiding Judge Mark Gundrum and joined by Judges Lisa Neubauer and Shelley Grogan):
[Plaintiff Mark] Gierl's petition for a writ of mandamus states:
On June 24, 2020, the District sent out an email inviting "parents and guardians in our school community to participate in a webinar this Friday on the topic of privilege and race." The email described the webinar, titled "The Talk: A Necessary Conversation on Privilege and Race with Our Children," as including topics such as the "transitional model of change," the "spectrum of racism," the "Phenomenon of the George Floyd case" and "interventions to help become a powerful ally."
Gierl subsequently requested from the District the list of e-mail addresses to which the invitation was sent. In response, the District sent Gierl a letter indicating the invitation was sent to "all parents and staff members" of the District. The District provided the list of all staff e-mail addresses to which the invitation was sent but refused to provide the list of parent e-mail addresses, stating, "the District does not believe that there is a statute or case explicitly requiring or prohibiting disclosure of the list of parent email addresses, and as such, we have decided to respectfully decline your request for parent email addresses." …
The Court of Appeals disagreed with the school district:
