We appealed this decision to the Office of Open Records and received a favorable determination granting our request. The district failed to show that the documents remained internal, as must be proven under the Right to Know Law to establish the exception needed to keep the documents from being released. In fact, it appeared that the district shared the requested document with the William Penn Foundation, an outside entity. The district has not affirmatively denied that the documents were shared externally. Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and the Office of Open Records have routinely ruled that agencies cannot withhold documents on this basis if they have been shared outside of the originating agency.

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