Case Timeline
A chronological record of every significant event in Melody v. (versus) BCSD (Bibb County School District) — from the first records request through today. Click any row to jump to the relevant filing page.
Legal shorthand used here: ORA = Open Records Act. BCSD = Bibb County School District. FERPA / IDEA = federal student-privacy and special-education laws. RFA / RFP = Request for Admission / Request for Production (discovery tools). MSJ = Motion for Summary Judgment. NoH = Notice of Hearing. NoA = Notice of Appearance. COS = Certificate of Service. USCR = Uniform Superior Court Rules. F. Supp. = Federal Supplement; N.D. Ga. = Northern District of Georgia (federal trial court). Case citations read: volume / reporter / page / year.
Pre-litigation
For a plain-English narrative of the pre-litigation record, see the Background page. The primary-source documents referenced below are archived in the Pre-Litigation Record section.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2024-07-18 | Bibb County Board of Education unanimously approves a settlement involving Student JH — “off-camera, and at the tail end of a regular board meeting.” The dollar amount is never publicly disclosed. (Macon Melody, Aug 12 2025; Hatcher, Mar 29 2025) |
| 2024-07-29 | Reporter Laura Corley files her first Open Records Request to BCSD concerning the July 18, 2024 board-approved settlement. |
| 2024-10-25 | AG Letter A — Opening. Senior Assistant AG Kristen Settlemire opens the Open Government Mediation Program dispute between Corley and BCSD. The letter is addressed to Andrew Davidson at Jones Cork, LLP (BCSD’s then-general counsel) and cites Mullins v. City of Griffin, 886 F. Supp. 21 (N.D. Ga. 1995) as authority for disclosure of settlement agreements. |
| 2025-01-03 | Jones Cork LLP formally terminates its BCSD representation. |
| 2025-01-16 | BCSD board approves Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP as interim general counsel (7–1 vote). Board President James Freeman states on the record that the earlier executive-session discussion of “Pending Litigation” was held without legal counsel present. |
| 2025-02-28 | Two Alexander II Magnet School teachers file an Open Records Request for personnel records on three of their own BCSD colleagues. |
| 2025-03-05 | Parker Poe partner Sherry H. Culves responds to the teacher ORR with a $1,590 / 40-hour cost estimate — the earliest confirmed Parker Poe ORA touchpoint in the record (see Parker Poe ORR Cost Schedule). |
| 2025-03-11 – 15 | Bibb County parent Kerry Hatcher files three Open Records Requests running in parallel with Corley’s journalism track: the JH Settlement ORR (3/11), LEO Calls for Service (3/12), and 1st Grade Disruptions (3/15) — see Collateral ORRs. |
| 2025-03-14 | BCSD Denial Letter to Hatcher. Culves issues a full FERPA-based denial of Hatcher’s JH Settlement ORR, deploying the 34 C.F.R. § 99.3 “requester-knowledge” theory in writing and confirming that “the recording publicly available on YouTube is the only available recording” of the 7/18/24 meeting. |
| 2025-03-20 | Parker Poe issues cost estimates on Hatcher’s LEO Calls and 1st Grade Disruptions ORRs ($459.42 and $153.83 respectively). Same day, the BCSD board meets and approves lateral personnel transfers; Hatcher speaks in public comment. |
| 2025-03-28 | BCSD misses its own promised deadline to produce the requested settlement records. |
| 2025-04-10 | Parker Poe emails Hatcher: district “unable to produce documents” pending review of “federal student privacy protections.” |
| 2025-04-14 | GA DOE Response Letter. Georgia Department of Education Chief Legal Officer Stacey Suber-Drake declines state intervention in a separate parent-driven escalation and redirects those parents to the AG Open Government Mediation Program. |
| ~2025-04-16 | Hatcher files his own intake with the AG Open Government Mediation Program. |
| 2025-04-24 | AG Letter B — Close-Out (Complaint Exhibit F). Settlemire closes the Corley mediation at impasse, stating that Mullins v. City of Griffin, 886 F. Supp. 21 (N.D. Ga. 1995) does not support BCSD’s non-disclosure position, and points the parties to O.C.G.A. § 50-18-73(a) private enforcement. |
| 2025-06-02 | Corley submits a narrower, follow-up Open Records Request asking for just the dollar amounts of 2024 settlements. |
| 2025-06-05 | BCSD formally denies through Chief Communications Officer Stephanie Hartley, citing FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and voluntarily discloses the student’s initials (“JH”) in its denial letter. |
| 2025-06-18 | BCSD board ratifies the Parker Poe engagement through competitive procurement (RFP 25-029) — a formalization of the interim engagement that had been in place since January 16, 2025. |
The lawsuit begins (August – October 2025)
| Date | Event | Filing |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-08-03 | Complaint signed and dated. | Complaint |
| 2025-08-04 | Complaint filed in Bibb County Superior Court (Civil Action No. 2025-CV-083495). | Complaint |
| 2025-08-05 | Case initiation form and summons docketed. Plaintiff also files Rule Nisi Motion (Rule Nisi = Latin for “unless” — a show-cause order) seeking an early show-cause hearing. | Rule Nisi Motion |
| 2025-08-12 | Macon Melody publishes article announcing the lawsuit, describing “more than a year of back-and-forth” with BCSD and arguing: “A dollar amount is not an educational record.” | — |
| 2025-08-14 | Parties stipulate: BCSD waives service, answer deadline extended to 10/13/2025. | Service Waiver |
| 2025-08-20 | BCSD attorneys Bennett D. Bryan and Caroline L. Scalf (Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, Atlanta) file Notices of Appearance (NoAs — filings by which an attorney formally enters the case as counsel for a party). | BDB NoA · CLS NoA |
| 2025-10-13 | BCSD files its Answer (8 affirmative defenses) and Response in Opposition to the Rule Nisi Motion. | Answer · Rule Nisi Response |
| 2025-10-17 | Plaintiff files Reply in Support of Rule Nisi with 5 exhibits. | Reply |
Discovery phase (December 2025 – April 2026)
| Date | Event | Filing |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-12-29 | BCSD files Amended Answer (adds Ninth Defense: failure to join indispensable party) and simultaneously serves its First RFAs + First RFPs (Requests for Admission — asks the other side to admit or deny specific facts under oath; Requests for Production — asks for documents) on plaintiff. | Amended Answer · RFA/RPD COS |
| 2026-01-07 | Stanton Law LLC (Atlanta) appears for plaintiff. | Stanton Law NoA |
| 2026-01-08 | Formal substitution of counsel — Joy Ramsingh withdraws; Stanton Law substitutes in; signed by DuBose Porter on behalf of Georgia Trust for Local News, LLC. | Substitution |
| 2026-01-28 | Plaintiff serves discovery responses (later amended 3/19/2026). | Plaintiff COS |
| 2026-03-10 | Plaintiff files Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (MSJ — a request asking the judge to rule without a trial) on BCSD’s Sixth and Ninth Defenses. | MSJ |
| 2026-03-26 | Defense counsel Bryan files Notice of Leave of Absence blocking out multiple summer 2026 windows. | Leave of Absence |
| 2026-04-01 | Joint stipulation extending BCSD’s MSJ response deadline to 4/23/2026. | MSJ Stipulation |
| 2026-04-02 | Judge Smith signs first Notice of Hearing (NoH — the filing that sets the hearing date; motions hearing set for 4/29/2026). | NoH |
| 2026-04-03 | BCSD serves its first interrogatories — only 10 days before discovery cutoff. | Interrogatory COS |
| 2026-04-13 | BCSD files Motion to Extend Discovery — on the cutoff day. | Discovery Extension Motion |
| 2026-04-14 | Judge Smith grants the extension; discovery now open through 7/13/2026. Notice of Hearing reissued. | Discovery Extension Order · NoH re-filed |
What’s coming next
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2026-04-23 | BCSD’s response to Partial MSJ due. |
| 2026-04-29 · 2:00 p.m. | Motions Hearing in Courtroom E — Partial MSJ argued before Judge Ken Smith. |
| 2026-05-05 · 9:30 a.m. | Calendar Call. |
| 2026-07-13 | Discovery closes. |
How to read a court docket
A docket is the official chronological list of everything filed in a case — like a table of contents for the lawsuit. In Georgia Superior Court:
- Complaint — the document that starts the lawsuit. Says who is suing whom and why.
- Summons — the formal notice telling the defendant they’ve been sued.
- Answer — the defendant’s response. Admits, denies, or claims to lack knowledge of each allegation, and raises affirmative defenses (reasons why the defendant should win even if the facts are true).
- Amended Answer — a later, updated version. New defenses may be added.
- Motion — a formal request asking the court to do something (extend a deadline, rule on an issue, strike a defense, etc.).
- Response / Opposition — the other side’s written reply to a motion.
- Reply — the moving party’s rebuttal to the Response.
- Order — the judge’s decision.
- COS (Certificate of Service) — a one-page document saying “I served this on the other side on such-and-such date.” Required because discovery requests themselves don’t go on the public docket in Georgia (only the COS). Under USCR (Uniform Superior Court Rules — the procedural rulebook for Georgia Superior Court) Rule 5.2.
Every one of these appears in the Melody v. BCSD docket. The Court Filings section breaks each one down.