School Administrator: Open arms, open records: how a school district responds to requests for public information says much about trust and confidence

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Open arms, open records: how a school district responds to requests for public information says much about trust and confidence

Connie J. Blaney

It was one of those days in the superintendent's office when the secretary just couldn't seem to catch her breath. With the phone to her ear as she typed her report on the computer, she noticed a stranger walking through the door of her office. It was a small town in rural America and she hadn't seen this man before.

"What can I do for you, sir?" she asked. The citizen offered his name, then asked for a copy of the salary schedules for central-office administrators.

Her response: "I've never seen you before in my life. How do I know you aren't an undercover reporter?"

A hundred miles down the road in a large metropolitan city, an education reporter walked into the high school principal's office to ask the secretary for a copy of the principal's contract. The principal, who had been ridiculed the week before in the newspaper, overheard the reporter's request. Stepping from his office, he sarcastically remarked, "What the heck do you want that for? All you ever do is criticize us."

Ensuring Trust

Whether it was ignorance or arrogance, these two public officials made a serious mistake. In addition to violating this state's Open Records Act, their unwillingness to cooperate created in the visitor's mind a sense of doubt, suspicion and mistrust for themselves and their public institutions. A reporter once said to me, "When you deny the records, you begin the story."

Across the nation, state constitutions recognize and guarantee that all political power is inherent in the people. Thus it is the public policy of the state that the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government. Our founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights to preserve freedom of speech and the press. Today it is vital we protect these rights and ensure a free and democratic society.

Public schools, along with law enforcement, municipalities and other government agencies, have an obligation to be open and honest with the public. Debra Marlow, director of communications for Chesterfield County, Va., Public Schools, agrees. "The bottom line is that our basic philosophy involves a commitment to provide information, which will lead to greater understanding, support and public confidence by all members of the community for the mission and objectives of the school division," she says.

District policy in Chesterfield, in line with Virginia's Freedom of Information Act, states that requests for information shall be "directed to the community relations department for prompt and courteous replies."

A Performance Test

Is your school district passing the test? Are your employees knowledgeable of the Open Records Act? How are they accommodating these requests?

In June 2000, the state of Oklahoma was put to the test. An open records survey asked reporters and private citizens about their experiences requesting public records. The study, funded largely by media organizations, tested compliance with the state's Open Records Act.

School districts, police departments, city and county clerks, state agencies and the board of regents were included in the survey.

Reporters fanned out across the state. One math professor traveled more than 1,000 miles requesting information. Meanwhile, a private citizen sent letters to school districts requesting the school board agenda.

The results were published in daily and weekly newspapers statewide. Overall the schools fared well, granting 93.7 percent of the requests (538 of 574). It was reported that 33 schools failed to respond and two schools denied the request.

Mark Thomas, Oklahoma Press Association executive vice president, said he was pleased with the overall response from the schools. "The public must have access to records of their government if they are expected to trust the government. Good public servants understand that fundamental truth," he said.

The final 8-page published edition reported specific examples of individuals, institutions and agencies and their responses, exemplary and poor. My school district, Norman Public Schools, received this mention: "Copies of contracts for the superintendent and the head football coach at Norman schools didn't cost, but there was a three-day delay."

With all due respect, our district's policy allows a three-day window for replying to the request. This was noted on the request form, yet it was not mentioned in the final report. Whenever possible, Norman staff provides the requested information on the spot or within several hours. Thomas stresses the importance of providing the information in a timely manner. "If a citizen drops by someone's office unannounced and needs something immediately, there may be times that it could be taken care of right then," Thomas said.

Rapid Response

Many school districts across the country allow up to three days for gathering the requested information and releasing it to the public. If the information is readily accessible, districts will respond with a quicker turnaround time to meet the reporter's deadline or the citizen s timeline.

"When there are delays, we try to communicate frequently with the person requesting the data to let them know the status of their request," said Nora Carr, assistant superintendent for public information in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., school district. "In general, I think community members and the media have a very different view of what is responsive and timely than we do," she said.

Most public institutions designate a timeframe that complies with their state's open records act. When additional time is needed to gather the materials, they submit in writing an explanation for the delay.

Norman Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Siano encourages school leaders to be accessible, open and honest with the public. As CEO, Siano sets high expectations for district staff to be knowledgeable of the open records law and to comply in an appropriate, efficient and timely manner. "It is in our best interest to be conscientious public servants and to assure citizens that we are not only keeping the letter of the law but also fulfilling its spirit by being helpful, friendly and courteous," he said.

In the Los Angeles County Office of Education, Frank Kwan, director of communications, provides guidelines for his staff on record requests. His agency must respond to public requests within 10 calendar days of receipt of the request. "The main point we try to stress is that the documents belong to the public (with some specific exceptions), and we should structure our record keeping to ensure there is access," Kwan said.

When the guidelines were put into operation, Kwan held training sessions with the business staff and school principals. New central administrators also received training. He emphasized that the open records act differs from state to state. "It is vital that school employees understand their state's open records act. Every district needs in-service training on working with the news media and public on these types of requests," Kwan said.

"Our biggest challenge is wide-ranging, broad requests that commit significant hours of staff time to research," he said.

Increasingly districts are handling politically motivated, time-consuming requests that take staff members many hours to complete. If a response has to be created that will take an inordinate amount of time, then school boards should adopt policies that address hourly rates, material fees and a timeline and process for completing these requests.

"Although we are in a business of responding to the community, we must remain focused on our purpose and main job responsibility--the education of our students," Kwan said.

Request Process

School records that must be open to the public are legally defined as public records. The Ohio Revised Code defines a public record as any record that is kept by any public office, including, but not limited to, state, county, city, village, township and school district units. The Oklahoma Opens Record Act defines records to include any book, paper, photograph, microfilm, data files created by or use of computer software, computer tape, disk and record, sound or film recording, video record or other material regardless of physical form or characteristic.

Although procedures for accommodating public requests vary in each school district, there are more similarities than differences. A person requesting information is asked to complete a request form with the name, address, type of materials requested and the day he or she wants the information. In most states, a public employee cannot ask why the information has been requested.

In Oklahoma, citizens requesting information are not required to fill out a form or disclose their names or their purpose for requesting the information. However, most districts in the state do have school board policies and procedures for accessing school records. A 1996 Oklahoma attorney general's opinion states a public official can question the purpose to determine whether the records will be used for a commercial purpose, in which case a search fee could be charged.

The Kansas state legislature in 2000 made substantial changes to the open records act. The amendments require schools and districts to provide the public with educational materials about rights and responsibilities under the open records act and procedures for accessing public information. In response, the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools created a brochure, "The Kansas Open Records Act," which is a guide to the rights of the public and the responsibilities of public educational institutions. The brochure, which must be displayed in school offices, details what is considered public record along with exemptions.

Policies are driven by the law and the philosophy of the school system. Elizabeth Ackerman, communications director in Fulton County, Ga., schools, takes pride in her school's openness with the public. "Our process begins with our school system's belief that schools belong to the public. Information we gather is public, and everything from supporting documents for monthly board meetings to school rezoning is open to the public," she said. The district's website grants the public to have easy access to information.

In the Everett, Wash., district, the community relations coordinator, Gay Campbell, serves as the public records custodian. As such, she is authorized to compile, display and make available for inspection or copying a description of the district's organizational structure, district operations, descriptions of how, where and from which employee the public can obtain information and copies of public records and all district rules, procedures and policies.

In most cases, the superintendent or designee shall serve as the public records custodian, and often a community relations employee is assigned the task of tracking all requests. Jerry Smith, executive assistant to the superintendent for board and community services in Spring Independent School District in Houston, maintains a detailed report listing the person requesting the information, date of request, the names of staff assigned on what date and response with date.

Constituent Support

Whether your district is in a small or rural area or located in the suburbs of a major metropolitan area, you might want to review neighboring school districts' policies on open records. Rick Kaufman, executive director of public engagement and communications services in Jefferson County, Colo., recently met with school communications professionals in the Denver area to discuss the rash of public records requests last spring for various computer-generated data. "At our meeting, we were able to hammer out a protocol for handling future media public records requests," Kaufman said.

Building strong alliances in the community is more important than ever for schools. Public entities, whether schools or government agencies, must maintain and nurture a reputation of cooperation and honesty.

Perhaps Paul McMasters, a First Amendment expert at the Freedom Forum, a media foundation in Arlington, Va., said it best: "Openness is what drives a democracy. If government officials don't trust the people with information, how can the people trust their governments? Maximum access to government information and meetings is the best way to make sure that the democratic compact between the people and its government works fairly for both sides."