DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — It's a video Central Dauphin School District didn't want the public to see.
A February 2016 altercation between a student and Erica Rawls, wife of then Central Dauphin East High School principal Jesse Rawls, was captured on school bus security cameras.
Rawls' faced harassment charges that were soon dismissed.
FOX43 made a right-to-know request for a redacted version of the video in 2016, one that was granted by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.
Central Dauphin School District fought the video's release in court for seven years, claiming it would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and would jeopardize the district's federal funding.
Attorney Craig Staudenmaier from Nauman Smith Shissler & Hall represented FOX43 in the case that made it all the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
"The office of open records said release it, the trial court said release it, the Commonwealth court, twice, said release it and the supreme court ultimately said release it," Staudenmaier said.
After 7 years, FOX43 obtained the video this week. Around the minute mark of the 10-minute-long video does the altercation occur:
Staudenmaier said the ruling creates a new precedent.
"It's established the fact that just because you have an education record doesn't automatically make it exempt under all circumstances," he said. "Normally speaking, FERPA is primarily meant to protect the identity of the student. Once the student identification information is removed, then the record becomes a public record."
Years of litigation have come at a significant cost to the district. Former School Board Member Eric Epstein said Central Dauphin likely racked up hundreds of thousands in legal fees.
"Why is the taxpayer spending $250,000 over a seven-year period, arguing five separate cases, only to have the video released?" Epstein said. "Somebody needs to be held accountable. Either the administration, the board President or the law firm. Or, all three."
Epstein submitted his own right-to-know request, hoping to find out exactly how much the district spent trying to keep the video out of the public eye.
"My focus is trying to determine who made the decision to authorize the legal expenditures because the reality is as a school board member I was not allowed to look at the video," Epstein said.
Epstein delivered his request on March 13 and the district responded one week later saying it was invoking its right to a 30-day response period.
FOX43 reached out to the Central Dauphin School District for comment on this story but did not hear back.