13-05-2025
FOG sues Los Lunas School District
New Mexico Foundation for Open Government filed suit against the Los Lunas Schools Board of Ed for not releasing records related to its investigation of former Schools Superintendent Ryan Kettler (photo courtesy Los Lunas Schools)
The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government announced on Tuesday a lawsuit against the Los Lunas Schools Board of Education, along with its public records custodian, Brian Baca, for their refusal to release public records related to an investigation of former Superintendent Ryan Kettler.
According to a news release from FOG, after Kettler was placed on administrative leave in July 2024, one year after he was fired, School Board President Michelle Osowski told Valencia County News-Bulletin reporters the district's lawyers would be investigating him. Subsequently, the newspaper filed Inspection of Public Records Act requests to learn more about that investigation.
According to the suit, those records included:
• Any contract for services with DDSK Group LLC.
• Any scope of work services from DDSK Group LLC.
• Any and all invoices from and payments to DDSK Group LLC.
• Any and all correspondence between DDSK Group LLC and Los Lunas Schools employees to include electronic correspondence and messages on district issued and personal devices.
• Any and all correspondence between DDSK Group LLC and LLS Board of Education members to include electronic correspondence and messages on district issued and personal devices.
In response, the district's lawyers said they were 'unaware of any documents responsive [to the public records requests]' and, moreover, were there an investigation 'company hired to conduct an investigation was done through [their] law firm and is protected by attorney-client privilege and not subject to the Inspection of Public Records Act.'
Nonetheless, FOG notes an Oct. 31, 2024 invoice shows Los Lunas Schools' attorneys billed the district $21,685 to pay DDKS Group LLC, a firm that conducts school personnel investigations. The school board terminated Kettler on Nov. 14, 2024 and never explained its reasons for doing so.
'NMFOG is suing the School District for unlawfully shielding its public records from view,' the news release states. 'A public body cannot hide public records behind the attorney-client privilege merely because the school went through its attorney to hire an investigator. The attorney-client privilege covers only confidential communications between an attorney and their client and does not apply to the requested records concerning Kettler.'
The lawsuit requests a judge to compel the district to release the records.
