Madison schools spokesperson sues district over complaint

Tim LeMonds, spokesperson for the Madison School District, filed a lawsuit on Friday in Dane County Circuit Court against the district to prevent a copy of a complaint filed against him by his staff from becoming public through an open records request, according to a report from the Wisconsin State Journal.

LeMonds is seeking to prevent the 14-page complaint and one other document from being released to a local TV news station, according to public court records. LeMonds declined to comment on the matter when reached by the State Journal.

LeMonds’ suit argues that releasing the complaint that staff filed would harm LeMonds and the school district because he is the district’s spokesperson, and the potential harm outweighs the public benefit of the document’s release.

The district’s legal team and human resources department investigated the complaint, which included 11 interviews with LeMonds, the staff who filed the complaint and other staff, and a review of documents and recordings. In December 2022, the district issued a formal letter finding the accusations against LeMonds to be “without merit” and decided no further action would be taken.