Two men filed a lawsuit against the Iowa City School District alleging school officials ignored their open-records requests for the past two years.

David Gurwell and UI opthamology Professor Edwin Stone claim they requested documents under the Iowa Open Records Act from August 2009 through April 2011.

According to their court petition, the School District has neither turned over the records nor provided any justification for the refusal. Stone and Gurwell allege they tried numerous times to obtain the records, court records show.

The litigation names all seven members of the School Board, District Superintendent Steve Murley, and District Executive Director of Administrative Services Paul Bobek.

In an April 13 letter to Bobek, Stone claimed Bobek didn’t respond to Murley’s February instructions to provide Stone with information on district construction projects. Bobek reportedly didn’t respond over the next month, and Stone filed a complaint with the School Board.

Stone said he began trying to obtain the information in 2009.

— by Luke Voelz