ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The state Office of Open Records has ordered Allentown School District to release records connected to BusPatrol, the contractor responsible for administering the district’s stop-arm camera enforcement program.
The state agency issued the order after LehighValleyNews.com appealed a denial of a request for records — including a copy of the district’s contract with BusPatrol — under the state's Right to Know law.
It’s the second such ruling in favor ofLehighValleyNews.com after it sought similar records through the Allentown Police Department.
“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
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 enhance student safety by detecting vehicles illegally passing or overtaking school buses.
The agreement with the district, police department and BusPatrol is a violator-funded model, with $300 fines collected from alleged stop-arm violations covering program expenses, and revenue divvied among those entities and the state's School Bus Safety Grant Program.
In a July 15 decision, the Office of Open Records concluded that the district failed to meet its legal burden under the law when it denied access to the records sought, including the full, unredacted contract between the district and BusPatrol.
The district had claimed the records were confidential and proprietary, but the state agency found those claims lacked evidence.
Besides the contract, the school district and the vendor also had denied LehighValleyNews.com's request for the total amount of money the district received through the BusPatrol enforcement program in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Of the $300 fine, $250 goes to the school entity where the violation occurred, and a portion of that is paid back to BusPatrol.
“The Office of Open Records is really holding these agencies, and in this case, their contractor, to the standards that exist in the law,” said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
“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.”
Implications beyond the Valley
LehighValleyNews.com sought the contract to better understand how much public money was being paid to and collected by BusPatrol.
The request came as part of a broader reporting effort into transparency and accountability around the enforcement system, which has drawn scrutiny from Maryland to Florida.
The program yielded more than 3,000 motorist citations in the first three months of this year in Allentown, outpacing even larger cities such as Pittsburgh, which averaged 38.6 weekday citations over a recent nine-month stretch.
But a growing number of drivers say it's a flawed system that offers little in the way of due process when it comes to automated school bus enforcement.
An analysis by LehighValleyNews.com in May found that of the more than 1,000 motorist appeals of school bus stop citations issued in the Lehigh Valley since January, not a single hearing for those 2025 appeals has been held.
That was due to a backlog of cases from 2024 and the overwhelming number of appeals the state's eight hearing officers have on their dockets, according to PennDOT.
"This is how much public money is at stake here with the system — that information should be clearly public."Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association
Melewsky said the ruling by the state Office of Open Records was “very favorable” and could have broader implications beyond the Lehigh Valley.
“You’re not asking for trade secrets," she said. "This is how much public money is at stake here with the system — that information should be clearly public.
“It looks bad that there's a denial. In this case, it would look even worse if there's an appeal.”
'It's the government agency that determines what is public'
Under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, government agencies — not their contractors, such as BusPatrol — are responsible for determining what is and isn’t a public record.
Melewsky emphasized that government agencies cannot outsource their public access obligations.
“They can certainly ask their contractor for their position, but ultimately it's the government agency that determines what is public and what is not,” she said.
“They are the responsible party under the Right-to-Know Law.”
The Allentown School District now has 30 days to either release the information sought or file an appeal in Lehigh County Court.
“There’s nothing confidential or proprietary about how much money this contractor is being paid in public funds and how much money they're bringing in from We the People.”Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association
Melewsky noted that while it’s possible the district may appeal, doing so would contradict the spirit of transparency and “good governance.”
“From a public policy perspective, an appeal is inconsistent with both the goals of the Right-to-Know Law and good governance,” she said.
“There’s nothing confidential or proprietary about how much money this contractor is being paid in public funds and how much money they're bringing in from we the people.”
“You can't have a government contract that's subject to a blanket of confidentiality under the argument that it's a trade secret.
"Those kinds of arguments have been raised and batted down by courts and the Office of Open Records in many other cases.”
'There has to be an independent review'
Melewsky noted that courts have consistently ruled agencies must conduct their own independent review of public records requests, regardless of whether the information is held by or generated through a third party.
That’s particularly important, she said, because contractors such as BusPatrol often are based out of state, may not employ Pennsylvania-licensed attorneys, and may lack knowledge of the state’s transparency laws.
“There has to be an independent review,” Melewsky said. “It’s the government’s responsibility to facilitate access to public records — full stop.”
She added that compliance with the Right-to-Know Law doesn’t end when an agency signs a contract with a private vendor.
“Part of that statutory obligation is complying with the Right-to-Know Law in all its forms — including at the request stage, at the appeal stage, and in any court appeals,” she said.
Ronald Simonson, the district’s right-to-know officer, said in an email after the ruling that the school district will provide the records if BusPatrol decides not to pursue an appeal through Lehigh County Court.
