Cherry Hill school district sues journalists for filing too many public records requests

When freelance journalist Ben Shore began looking into the Cherry Hill school district, he asked the South Jersey school system to turn over records like invoices and legal bills.

Shore, who operates a news site that focuses on Cherry Hill, believed his requests were in the public interest and allowed under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. He filed 14 requests in a year.

“I believe that our government works best when people can see what they’re doing,” Shore said in an interview last week. In addition to documents, he requested videos of board meetings that showed different angles. “I want to bring that transparency to the people.”

But the district fought back.

The school district denied some of the requests and further responded recently by filing a lawsuit against Shore and his brother, fellow journalist Daniel Shore, to ban them from requesting records from the district for a year. Daniel Shore works with his brother and had only filed a single request himself.

In a 128-page lawsuit filed in Superior Court in February, the district said it deemed the “numerous, repeated and vexatious” requests as harassment that “substantially interrupted” school operations.

His legal dispute with one of the largest school districts in the state has renewed debate about changes enacted to the public records law in 2024. Advocates say the case could stifle others from requested records.

“It is about shutting him down,” said his attorney CJ Griffin, who represents reporters and others in public records cases. “He was targeted over a very small amount of requests.”

According to the district’s lawsuit complaint, district personnel, including its custodian of records, have spent more than 100 hours reviewing and redacting documents and responding to requests.

Griffin, in her response last week with a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, said the district has failed to show that the requests affected school operations.

“It’s baseless,” Griffin said. “It’s ridiculous that they tried suing him.”

Eric Harrison, the district’s attorney, declined to comment. Nina Baratti, a district spokeswoman, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

New Jersey’s Open Public Records law, first enacted in 2002, changed in June 2024 when then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill that overhauled how the public can access government records, such as budgets, contracts, and police records.

The new law allowed governmental entities like Cherry Hill an opportunity to prove that requests were harassment or interfered with their work. It also eliminated a guarantee that people who successfully dispute record denials in court can recoup their legal fees.

Advocacy groups, including the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists, say the Cherry Hill case confirms their fears that the new law would compromise public transparency.

In a statement, the group said it was disappointed by the lawsuit and urged Cherry Hill to withdraw the complaint. Cherry Hill could become a test case for how far a government agency should be allowed to go to ban public access, it said.

“It is shameful to see a government entity follow the path of the Trump Administration in going after journalists it feels it can bully into silence,” the group said.

Griffin, director of the Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center at her Hackensack law firm, contends the lawsuit violates New Jersey’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects records requestors from public entities that retaliate by taking them to court.

Shore, 25, who graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in December 2025 and recently passed the bar exam, said he has paused his records requests pending the outcome of the case. He has filed four lawsuits against the district to appeal denied open records requests.

“We don’t want to get sued again for another request,” he said. “It has had an absolutely chilling effect.”

The lawsuit also seeks to shut down a portal that Shore created through his news site, Shore Investigates, that allows the public to file requests instead of using the district’s website.

Shore said he wants to collect bills and other expenses to share with the public so residents can see how much Cherry Hill spends on everything from legal fees to special education costs.

Cherry Hill is in the midst of a funding crisis after announcing likely cuts for the 2026-27 school year to bridge a budget gap. The average annual tax bill is expected to rise by $420.

Shore estimates that the legal costs incurred by both sides will total thousands of dollars. He plans to ask the judge to order the district to pay his legal fees, if successful.

» READ MORE: Cherry Hill student prevails in fight to bring service dog to school

Shore, the son of a lawyer, is no stranger to taking on the school system. In 2017, while attending Cherry Hill East, Shore persuaded the district to change its policy and allow him to bring his service dog, Charlie, to school.

Then a junior, Shore, who is on the autism spectrum, said having his certified goldendoodle along helped with managing panic disorders and stress. He argued that the district’s policy against service animals violated state and federal laws protecting students with disabilities.

Lawmakers championed his case, and passed “Charlie’s Law,” which prohibits most public spaces from turning away service animals and imposes up to $1,000 in fines for violators.

Shore said he plans to practice law, possibly civil rights cases, and continue advocating for public transparency. He wants to create a national portal for requesting records.

“I spent so much time to get the law degree that I feel I have to at least try that out,” he said.