The job of the Stonington Board of Education is to set policy for the administration to implement. One policy it should set for the administration: stop wasting taxpayer dollars fighting to keep information from the public.

Case in point.

A year ago The Day sought access to a memo from Principal Mike Friese to Superintendent of Schools Van Riley with the subject line: INVESTIGATION of STUDENT ALLEGATION OF INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT BY A TEACHER.

The teacher, we know, is former high school instructor and coach Timothy Chokas. Though the reporting of Day Staff Writer Joe Wojtas has established a long history of reported misconduct — inappropriate physical contact with and comments to female students — Chokas had for years managed to keep his job.

The email references what turned out to be a last straw, a female student complaining to a staff person about yet another incident of wrong behavior. Early in 2019, the administration reached a deal with Chokas. He could walk away with his $81,396 salary and his benefits covered through the end of the school year. And the administration would not disclose information to prospective future employers, except as required by law.

Wojtas requested the memo, a public document under the state Freedom of Information law. The administration and its legal team refused to comply, contending it was an education record exempt from disclosure.

After hearing evidence and arguments, FOI Hearing Officer Matthew Reed concluded, as the Day argued, it is a public document. Reed recommends the FOI Commission order its release when it next meets July 22.

Now attorney Kyle McClain, on behalf of Stonington schools, has launched what is certainly a costly legal effort, including preparing a 17-page brief, to stop the release. The attorney asks that the commission reject and amend Reed’s recommendation or send it back to him to reconsider.

Exactly who is this latest legal move intended to protect? The administration contends it is the student and her privacy. But only the student’s initials appear in the memo, and The Day agreed they could be redacted.

More likely, the administration seeks to protect itself from information that will only raise more questions as to why the principal and superintendent did not act sooner to address Chokas’ conduct and why he got such a sweetheart severance.

Remember, this is an administration that has claimed none of the many prior student grievances involving Chokas’ conduct were included in his personnel file — also obtained by way of an FOI filing — because they were not formal complaints but “reports” and “concerns.”

It sure looks like a coverup. And the school board, which has launched an outside investigation to understand the depth of the problem, should have none of it. It must vote to instruct the administration to withdraw the latest appeal. Let the FOI Commission act on the hearing officer’s recommendation as it sees fit. Get the facts out.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.