MANCHESTER — A Superior Court judge has ruled that the public is entitled to minutes of a private Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative School District board meeting in which board members discussed an investigation into former Superintendent Trevor Ebel's use of a district-provided credit card.

The New Hampshire Union Leader sued the school district under the state's Right-to-Know Law, seeking release of the minutes as well as an investigative report by lawyer Dean Eggert of Manchester, an independent investigator hired by the school board to look into the credit card use.

The school board reviewed the investigative report in an April 24 non-public session and immediately sealed the report and minutes of the meeting for 50 years. The district maintained in court documents that releasing the minutes and report would violate Ebel's privacy rights or adversely affect his reputation. The district also argued that internal investigations must remain confidential to promote honest and candid witness responses and to ensure thorough investigation.

At that same meeting, the board announced Ebel's resignation, but said he was being hired for 30 days as an “independent contractor.” As of now, Ebel, 60, will be eligible for an annual pension of about $18,000.

Judge Kenneth Brown of Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester ruled on Wednesday that the school district must release the minutes, though it can redact names of people who cooperated in the investigation. He noted that the district had already released Ebel's employment contract, a list of transactions made by Ebel using the district's credit card and other information.

“Here, because the minutes and related documents contain private information already released to the public, Ebel's privacy interest in nondisclosure is minimal,” Brown wrote. “Thus, after balancing the public interest in disclosure and Ebel's limited privacy interest, the court finds disclosure of the meeting minutes and related documents is warranted with proper redactions.”

However, the judge ruled that a report detailing the investigation into Ebel is exempt from disclosure.

“Obviously, I'm pleased with the portions of the decision that opened up the minutes to public scrutiny, but I'm disappointed the court did not unseal the investigator's report,” said Attorney Gregory V. Sullivan of the Malloy and Sullivan law firm of Manchester and Hingham, Mass., who represents the newspaper.

School Board Chairman Geoff Brock left Friday for a four-day trip and was not available for comment, according to a woman who answered the phone at his home Friday evening.

School Board member Dion Lewis said Friday that he hadn't yet seen the court ruling and did not have the meeting minutes available to release Friday night. He said the minutes are at the district offices, which were closed by Friday evening and wouldn't reopen until Monday, he said.

“The minutes were literally sealed in an envelope,” he said.

An independent audit of the district for the 2011 fiscal year, received by the school board in February, revealed payroll advances and unreimbursed personal purchases made by Ebel with the district's credit card. The charges covered alcohol, limousines and movies, as well as meals at the Bedford Village Inn and Giorgio's Restaurant in Merrimack.

Some of the expenses were reimbursed but about $2,100 in charges could not be accounted for, according to the audit conducted by Plodzik & Sanderson.