Open records are at the heart of dispute between Yukon couple, school district

“They left us no choice,” Debbie Wright said.

The Wrights prevailed.

In July, nearly a year after it was completed, the report was released but not to the Wrights. Instead, the district posted the information on its website.

Months later, a judge also ordered the school district to reimburse the couple $18,000 for attorneys' fees.

The Wrights have filed a lawsuit against Bow, who quit his job with the school district in May 2011. School district emails obtained by the Wrights' attorney show that Bow confessed to Patzkowski that he overcharged the Wrights to make up for financial losses the program suffered when two calves died unexpectedly.

Randy Wright said he and his wife have tried unsuccessfully to work things out with Yukon officials since they discovered they had been overcharged.

“I've asked 17 times to sit across the table and work this out,” he said. “But they don't want to do that. They want to have secrets, I guess.”

But the Wrights aren't giving up. They now are submitting records requests about bidding procedures, financial practices and other areas they have concerns about.

On Thursday, the Wrights received another in a long line of similar letters from the school district. Inside was notification that records they had requested were available for pick up at district headquarters.

“Randy usually goes,” Debbie Wright said.