The Xenia Community City School District must provide the email distribution list used to send the superintendent’s newsletter to a woman who requested it, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today.

In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court rejected Xenia school’s claim that the email distribution list was not a public record and that it could refuse to provide the list to Darbi Boddy because it contained personally identifiable student information.

The Court noted that Boddy, through her attorney and not disclosing her name, sought the list in December 2024, one month after the Court issued its Hicks v. Union Twp. Clermont Cty. Bd. of Trustees decision, which found that a township’s email newsletter distribution list was a public record.

The Court stated that to protect student privacy, Xenia schools must redact any personally identifiable student information from the list before producing it. Because the district improperly denied the records request, it must pay Boddy $1,000 in statutory damages, along with court costs and her attorney fees.

Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy and Justices R. Patrick DeWine, Jennifer Brunner, Joseph T. Deters, Daniel R. Hawkins, and Megan E. Shanahan joined the per curiam opinion. Justice Patrick F. Fischer concurred, stating he would not award damages to Boddy.

Records Request Coincides With Federal Lawsuit
Boddy, a former member of the Lakota Local School District in Butler County, submitted a public records request to the school district asking for various records related to the newsletter sent by the school superintendent to the school community in October 2024. Also in December 2024, Boddy filed a federal lawsuit against the Xenia school board members for violating her constitutional rights during an October 2024 school board meeting.

The school district denied her request for the list, maintaining that under R.C. 149.011(G), the list is not a school “record.” Additionally, it maintained that if the list was a public record, it was exempt from disclosure because the Ohio Student Privacy Act and the federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevented the release of protected student information.

In February 2025, Boddy sought a writ of mandamus from the Supreme Court to compel the district to release the distribution list. In her request, she indicated the newsletter was emailed to parents of Xenia school students, and the list primarily contained the email addresses of parents of students enrolled in the district.

The Court ordered the district to submit the distribution list under seal for an in camera inspection, and allowed the district to file any other evidence confidentially that could contain protected student information. The school district did not submit the list for the Court to review and did not provide any additional evidence containing protected student information.

Supreme Court Analyzed Request
To establish that an email distribution list is a public record under the Ohio Public Records Act, Boddy has to demonstrate the list was a “document, device, or item” created or received by the district and serves to document the “organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the school district,” the opinion stated.

Citing the township email list sought in the Hicks case, the Court ruled that an email distribution list is an “item” under the Public Records Act.

Boddy submitted a transcript from a hearing in her federal lawsuit against the district. At the hearing, the superintendent testified that the October 2024 newsletter was sent to the school community by email as part of his weekly communication to parents. He explained that the school district’s website has links that allow a person to sign up to receive the newsletters.

The email distribution list is generated through the district’s website and maintained by the district, the Court explained. The distribution list is used to email the newsletter, which is “central” to keeping the community informed about news and events of the district, the opinion noted. Because the list documents particular functions and procedures of the district, revealing how and to whom the superintendent distributes the newsletter, the Court found the list was a public record.

The school district argued that under R.C. 149.43(A)(1)(v), the list was excluded from the definition of “public record” because it contained information that “the release of which is prohibited by state or federal law.” The district maintained the list contains personally identifiable information and protected student information and the release of the information would violate FERPA.

The Court stated the evidence indicated the lists might include protected information, but a public office that withholds a record request has the burden of proving the exemption applies. Because the school district did not comply with the Court’s order to allow for a confidential review, the Court stated it could not determine whether the list contained information that could not be disclosed. It found the district failed to prove the list was exempt.

Since the district did not provide the list to Boddy within 10 days, she is entitled to the law’s maximum $1,000 in damages. The district must also pay her court costs, and an amount in attorney fees that will be determined after she submits an itemized fee request to the Court.

2025-0262. State ex rel. Boddy v. Xenia Community City School Dist. Bd. of Edn., Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-164.

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