Agreeing with an Exeter, New Hampshire, parent that school-district officials deliberately destroyed Internet history logs that he had sued to examine, Rockingham (N.H.) Superior Court Judge Gillian Abramson issued a contempt-of-court ruling January 3 against two school boards in the Exeter area. Declaring that the Exeter boards “acted in bad, if not rancid faith,” Abramson characterized as “intentionally misle[ading] the Court” a bombshell revelation on December 13 that the school districts had deleted most of two years’ worth of history logs plaintiff James Knight had been seeking to access.
In response, school-board members voiced their unwavering confidence in Superintendent Arthur Hanson. “Dr. Hanson’s integrity is very high,” Exeter Region Cooperative School Board chairman Greg Kann said in the January 9 Portsmouth Herald. “Certainly, we can say to the public there was nothing done to intentionally harm any of the data.”
At a January 9 board meeting, Hanson invited Knight to share his findings after he analyzes some 60 days of Internet logs that he received December 13.
Posted January 15, 2001.