Baby Steps or Dragging Them Against Their Will

Advocating for improving DeKalb County Schools means not focusing on one issue because all issues are interrelated. For example, you can't decrease class size or add electives without considering the number of classrooms in a school. Doing so leads to elementary school band practice on the cafetorium stage during lunch.  

I ask DeKalb County School District administrators more questions than most other parents. My requests for information have typically been ignored or, if answered, answered in ways that lead to more questions.

Out of frustration, I have started sending Open Records Requests to get information. This is only marginally more successful. I get responses, but not always what I ask for. Also, some of the responses indicate the person didn't read what I was asking for.

On April 7, 2014, I submitted an Open Records Request for the documents given to the BOE members during the work session (which are not attached to the meeting agenda) the response I got was,

In accordance with O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71(b)(1)(A) and § 50-18-71(c)(1), the School District estimates it will take at least five business days and cost at least $112.00 (4 hours x $28 per hour) to retrieve the requested documents.

Not comprehending how it could take four hours to look up a dozen or so documents and attach them to an email, I asked for justification of the estimated time.

Once the Human Resource (HR) documents are published to eBOARD, eBOARD becomes the official repository.  The source document may change, but the eBOARD document does not. To honor your request, an HR staff member must retrieve the official documents from eBOARD for each Work Session or meeting between January 1, 2014 and April 1, 2014.  It will take at least four hours to retrieve these documents and the staff member's hourly rate of pay is $28.00.

According to this, it takes a central office employee an hour to find one document and attach it to an email (Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr.). The problem  is I was asking for the documents discussed in the BOE work sessions which ARE NOT published to eBOARD. If they were on eBOARD, I would not be asking for them.  Also, I requested all the documents from Jan. 1, 2013. Clearly, someone just didn't read what I was asking for. 

The person who sent me this response CC'd Ron Ramsey, the district's lead in-house attorney. When I repeated my request for the documents that are not included in the meeting minutes, that email was ignored. After 8 days, I repeated my request again, and CC'd Ty Tagami of the AJC. That email was CC'd to both Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Tagami.

It has been 8 days since I reminded you I was asking for the documents Dr. Ward-Smith provides the BOE members at the meetings and these documents are not posted to eBoard. 
Since they are not posted to eBoard your justification for the four hours required to retrieve them is invalid. These documents are not attached to the agenda prior to the meetings. They are a mystery to outside observers. Since they are discussed at BOE work sessions, they fall under the Open Records Act (Ga. Code Ann. Secs. 50-18-70 to 50-18-77). These documents are referred to as "updated information" and "comparisons with other school districts" which should not contain any confidential information. 
When can I expect a response with the documents I requested?

Two days later, the reply came. The documents I had requested will be ready sometime today, Friday, May 2.

It shouldn't take more than 3 weeks to get information requested in an Open Records Request from the DCSD, but it does. It takes persistence, patience, and including the AJC to get central office employees to do their jobs.

I have spoken to, and emailed, the BOE & Superintendent about the lack of transparency and accountability in the district. This story is an example of both.

My hope is by sharing this story, other parents who have questions or concerns will be persistent in the face of being ignored or answers which don't make sense.