HOLLIDAYSBURG — The Bellwood-Antis School District has declined to release settlement details that its school board approved Nov. 7 to resolve a Blair County civil court case filed by a student who was sexually abused by former wrestling coach Ryan Blazier.

The Mirror, which filed a Right-to-Know request on Nov. 8 to get a copy of the settlement, was advised in a recent response that the district believes the settlement is exempt from public disclosure under the Pennsylvania Judicial Code mediation privilege.

While Blair County Senior Judge Hiram Carpenter met in October with attorneys in what was recognized as an attempt to mediate the case that was a few days away from going to trial, the Mirror does not believe that Carpenter’s involvement should prevent public disclosure of the settlement — especially in light of the school board’s unanimous vote of approval during a public meeting on Nov. 7.

The Mirror will challenge the district’s denial by filing an appeal with the state Office of Open Records.

“You should file an appeal to this denial,” Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania News Media Association, advised the Mirror. “The law is clear: Settlement agreements involving public agencies, however reached, are public records under Pennsylvania law.”

Melewsky also referenced a 2022 Office of Open Records case in which Erie County initially refused to disclose a settlement agreement and cited the Pennsylvania Judicial Code mediation privilege.

In the Erie case, the state open records officer rendered a March 8, 2023, ruling ordering disclosure. In that case, the hearing officer said the mediated agreement contained nothing to exempt its disclosure under the Right-to-Know Law.

The Mirror’s request for the Bellwood-Antis document reflects its desire to report how much money the taxpayer-supported school district and/or its insurance provider is paying to settle a civil court dispute that would have otherwise been up to a jury to decide.

The Mirror is also interested in reviewing the document for any related settlement costs affecting district’s taxpayers and/or insurance providers or their premiums.

In its written denial, Bellwood-Antis Superintendent and Right-to-Know Officer Edward DiSabato maintained that the Right-to-Know Law yields to contrary legislation, then quoted a section of the law deeming mediation communication to be privileged.

Paula Knudsen Burke, attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Mirror that she also deems Bellwood-Antis’ settlement to be a public document.

Burke, in 2022, assisted the Mirror with efforts to get Judge Timothy M. Sullivan to unseal the civil case documents initially sealed at the district’s request.

“Coupled with the district’s attempt to shield the lawsuit entirely from the public in the sealing case, this is a troubling pattern of secrecy from a public entity,” Burke said.

The civil case developed in the months after a state police at Hollidaysburg investigation resulted in criminal charges being filed in February 2020 against Blazier of Bellwood who was a middle school wrestling coach.

During an October 2021 criminal court jury trial, two students testified against Blazier, with one stating that the coach sexually assaulted him in spring 2019 when they were alone in a small wrestling room. Another student accused Blazier, in 2019 and 2020, of sexually assaulting him several times in that room.

A jury that heard the criminal court case handed down seven convictions, prompting Senior Judge Daniel J. Milliron to sentence then 41-year-old Blazier to 21 to 42 years’ incarceration.

Blazier, who maintained his innocence at sentencing and has pursued appeals, was also named in the civil court cases filed with the county prothonotary. Blazier, who has mailed responses from the State Correctional Institution at Waynesburg where he is housed, has said that he has no liability for things that didn’t happen.

By filing the civil cases on behalf of the student victims, Indiana attorneys Bryan Neiderhiser and Bradley Houlta sought to hold the school district and its personnel accountable for actions and lack of actions that failed to protect the pair of students from being sexually assaulted.

Attorneys representing the school district fought the charges by defending its actions and by contending that only Blazier was to blame.

While the school board’s Nov. 7 vote addressed the civil case filed on behalf of one student, a second civil court lawsuit remains on file in the county prothonotary’s office.

In November, Judge Sullivan signed an order directing attorneys to complete depositions in the second case by Feb. 12 and to file all motions, briefs and responses no later than March 8. The judge’s order also directs the attorneys to set mediation dates by Feb. 23 and complete mediation by April 19, unless good cause can be shown as to why a later date would be required.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.