DVJournal Reporting Leads to Senate Hearing on Disappearing Message App Usage
In response to Delaware Valley Journal’s reporting on school officials using messaging apps that erase messages to communicate with each other, the state Senate has called a hearing to review the situation.
The concern is that these officials are using the app to conduct official business and avoid Right-To-Know requirements, thereby keeping their communications secret from the public.
The Senate’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee sent out notices to potential witnesses of a tentative date of March 24 for the hearing.
“We need to understand whether or not the use of these apps violates current law. The hearing will explore how the apps are being used and hopefully generate some conversations about the issue among my colleagues,” said state Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh), who chairs that committee.
DVJournal reported in December that the Pennsbury School District was using Google Chat, automatically set to delete messages after 24 hours. A follow-up report revealed Central Bucks School District Democratic board members were using Signal, which can be set to delete messages in 24 hours, to communicate with each other.
Why is this an issue?
Parents and community members have a right to learn about what officials are doing behind closed doors. If their communications disappear before Right-to-Know requests can be sent, then those requests become moot, and officials can carry out public business in secret.
The messaging apps may also violate the Sunshine Act, allowing a quorum of officials to discuss official business behind the public’s back. Parents and community members would have to take their word that they were following the law.
Melissa Melewsky, the media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, is concerned. She worries about school board members using Google Chat, Signal, or similar messaging systems.
“Using an ephemeral messaging app raises not only Right-to-Know Law issues but Sunshine Act compliance issues as well,” Melewsky told DVJournal. “The Sunshine Act requires that quorum deliberations of agency business take place only at a public meeting. The messaging app would allow those discussions to take place outside of public meetings, in violation of the law, without evidence, making public accountability impossible. At a minimum, this conduct harms the public trust, and depending on how the app is used, it may also violate the law. The school board should reconsider its conduct and put both the law and transparency at the forefront of their public service.”
The Central Bucks Signal use came to light through a deposition given by former school board President Karen Smith in a lawsuit brought by residents John Callaghan and Karen Vecchione. Smith revealed the Democratic members of the board used Signal to communicate with other Democrats on the board. However, she claimed she did not use Signal for “agency business” or when there was a quorum.
“We use our email in cases where we believe something should be part of the record,” Smith told the plaintiff’s lawyer, J. Chadwick Schnee, during a deposition.
