ALLENTOWN, Pa. — BusPatrol America, the private company that operates Allentown’s school bus stop-arm camera program, has filed an appeal in Lehigh County Court after Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records ordered the release of its full contract and related records with the Allentown School District.
In a petition filed Aug. 15, BusPatrol asked the court to overturn the July 15 decision by the OOR, which ruled the district must provide an unredacted copy of the contract and related documents to LehighValleyNews.com within 30 days.
The OOR concluded there was no evidence showing the information was protected under Pennsylvania’s Stop-Arm Law or the state’s Right-to-Know Law exemptions for trade secrets and confidential proprietary information.
The OOR wrote in its final determination, “the withheld records and redacted information must be provided to the Requester.”
“The Office of Open Records is really holding these agencies, and in this case, their contractor, to the standards that exist in the law,” Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said at the time of the decision –- the second such ruling in favor of LehighValleyNews.com after it sought similar records through the Allentown Police Department.
Background on the records request
Under the program, a school district is responsible for partnering with its local police entity to oversee use of the camera system, which is designed to detect when drivers pass a school bus that is stopped with its stop-arm extended.
BusPatrol owns the technology, which includes cameras and license plate readers installed on participating school buses.
The company also provides administrative support to participating municipalities and school districts, it acknowledges in the filing, including mailing violation notices to alleged violators and processing the payment of fines.
The $300-per-citation violator-funded model covers the program expenses, with revenue divided among BusPatrol, the school district and police, with some revenue allocated to the state's School Bus Safety Grant Program.
BusPatrol’s appeal stems from Right-to-Know requests filed in April by LehighValleyNews.com.
The requests sought the contract entered into between BusPatrol and the district for the School Bus Stop Arm Enforcement Program, as well as revenue received through the program in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The Allentown School District initially denied access to the financial records and provided only a redacted version of the contract, citing the Stop-Arm Law and BusPatrol’s claims of confidentiality.
In July, the Office of Open Records disagreed, finding the information was not exempt, and ordered its release.
“The law requires the agency to prove, by preponderance of the evidence, that the records that were requested are exempt under the Right-to-Know Law, and if they don't meet that standard — and here they clearly did not — the records are public,” Melewsky said.
BusPatrol’s arguments in the appeal
In its Aug. 15 filing, BusPatrol argues the ruling from the Office of Open Records was wrong on several fronts. The company said:
- The information in the contract relates to BusPatrol’s “system, services, and pricing, including revenue sharing, technology, fees, invoicing, and payment” and should be protected as “confidential proprietary information.”
- Releasing it would “cause substantial harm to BusPatrol’s competitive position” because competitors could use the details to undercut future bids.
- The Office of Open Records wrongly concluded the contract was a “financial record” subject to full public disclosure, even though the revenue-sharing model means money is received and disbursed by BusPatrol, not directly from or to a government agency.
BusPatrol also maintains the Stop-Arm Law protects certain records from disclosure because they were “prepared under” or “related to” the law’s enforcement provisions.
The company is asking the court to reverse the Office of Open Records or, at minimum, allow additional evidence and arguments on why the contract information should remain confidential.
Executive Editor Jim Deegan said LehighValleyNews.com will answer any challenges to the Office of Open Records’ ruling in Lehigh County Court.
“Government contracts and the amount of money they yield for, in this case, a vendor and the Allentown School District, are well within the public’s right to know,” he said.
