Should Price Lab Lawsuit Be Tossed Over Word Choice?
State lawyers are asking to throw out a lawsuit trying to block the closure of Price Lab.
Multiple news outlets are reporting that the Iowa Board of Regents has asked to dismiss a lawsuit to block the closure of the Price Lab teaching laboratory school at University of Northern Iowa.
A number of local parents and teachers of Price Lab, a K-12 school for nearly 400 kids and a teaching lab for UNI students, have signed on as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The call for dismissal, filed by the Iowa Attorney General's Office, which is representing the regents, is based on the language in the lawsuit. The lawsuit seeks to block the closure of the "Iowa Research and Development School." While the regents voted in February to close "Price Lab."
Is this just a technicality? The Iowa Code seems to suggest the two terms are synonymous.
Here is what the Iowa Code has to say about the "Iowa Research and Development School" and "Price Lab."
CHAPTER 256G RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL For transition provisions for establishment of the research and development school in Cedar Falls, including requirements for an infrastructure feasibility study, a proposed timeline, appointment of a transition team, and reporting requirements, see 2009 Acts, ch 177, §56, 57 ...
Robert Huber
5:38 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
It is obvious from the emails which were disclosed that the research and development school designation was causing concerns for President Allen and UNI officials. We also need to remember that Regent Downer also raised this concern but no Regent would second his motion for a legal opinion. I wonder if someone in the AG's office was responsible for suggesting the strategy that President Allen and the Board took. The AG was slow in rendering an opinion on the Board's ability to close the school and now the lawsuit. It is sad for the state that there was not more discussion about closing the R & D school in open session at a Board of Regents meeting with ample prior notice and the ability for more of the public to ask questions. The Board of Regents and UNI were not transparent to Iowa citizens.
B.A. Morelli
7:35 pm on Monday, April 23, 2012
Is there a conflict of interest that the AG's office was to give an opinion on whether regents had authority to close Price Lab (but then decided to postpone its opinion pending the lawsuit) and now is defending the regents in the lawsuit?
Robert Huber
6:58 am on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
I do not know for sure how this all played out. But the AG's office is obligated to represent the BOR and is doing so. However, the AG's office did not address the question of the legality of the code in a timely manner. One wonders if the new transparency board will affect secret deals by government entities or if will be continue to be lawsuits that will be required to insure a hearing in disputes. I believe this lawsuit might have been avoided if the UNI administration and the BOR would have been transparent in their desire to close MPLS. Due to state responsibilities, the AG's office appears to me to represent Ben Allen and the BOR but not the students and families of MPLS, nor UNI education majors or faculty.
Arla Mcvicker
9:32 pm on Tuesday, April 24, 2012
OK. I am not an attorney, but I am an intelligent person who understands the English language. I am fairly certain that AKA (also known as) indicates synonymous terms. It isn't a difficult concept to understand. I am only left to think that the AG is not acting responsibly or appropriately.