District 833 Data Request Conundrum - Part 2 of 3

District 833 has the information; but it will cost you!

 Guidelines on how to request data from a government entity can be found on the website for the Information Policy Analysis Division or IPAD.  According to IPAD, under the Data Practices Act (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13), you have the right to request information from a government entity and the data must be kept in such a way as to be easily accessible.

In Part 1 of this series, you learned that acquiring information from a government agency isn't always easy and may require requesting a data practices advisory opinion from IPAD.  The Commissioner of Administration has authority to issue non-binding advisory opinions on certain issues related to the Data Practices Act (Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13). No fee is required.  Isn't that a breath of fresh air?  Let's take a look at how this is accomplished:

To make a request from IPAD:

• Write (email or letter) to the Commissioner of Administration, c/o IPAD at info.ipad@state.mn.us or 50 Sherburne Ave, 201 Admin Bldg., St. Paul, MN 55155
• State that you are requesting an advisory opinion.
• Explain the facts briefly. Provide a clear, concise statement of your position/analysis of the issues. State the issues you want the Commissioner to address.
• Provide copies of any related documentation or correspondence, including a copy of the original data request (if applicable) and any response, as well as citations to any relevant statutes, rules, or case law. Minnesota's process does not allow for rebuttals, so this is your opportunity to submit a complete explanation and all relevant documentation that you want the Commissioner to consider in the opinion.
• Please let us know if you are involved in litigation relating to the data practices issue. The Commissioner will not issue an opinion if a court will be evaluating the matter. 
• The Commissioner does not accept anonymous opinion requests.  (If your request is accepted and the data at issue reveal private data about you, the opinion can refer to you using a pseudonym.)

Once your request is received, the Commissioner of Administration will evaluate it:

• The Commissioner’s authority to issue advisory opinions is permissive.  This means the Commissioner has the right to refuse your opinion request.  If the Commissioner rejects your opinion request, IPAD will mail you a letter within five business days.
• If the Commissioner needs more information to move forward with your opinion request, IPAD will contact you.
• If the Commissioner accepts your request, IPAD will send you a confirmation letter.     

In Part 1 of this series, you may remember that the Commissioner ruled against the city of Silver Bay when they charged a requester :

Administrator Rate: $32.15 × 1 1/2 hours = $48.22
Deputy Clerk Rate: $22.11 × 1 3/4 hours = 38.69

The opinion issued by IPAD was:

The City of Silver Bay did not comply with Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, when it charged $86.91 to retrieve and copy 109 pages of government data. If the two requests were each for fewer than 100 pages, the City may not charge more than $.25 per page, or $27.25. If one request was for more than 100 pages, the City may charge its actual, reasonable cost to provide copies of those data.

MN Hockey Mama Advocates for our Community:

We received the following emails from a community member who requested a few enrollment numbers from Mr. Pyan, District 833 Finance Director.

From: xxxxxxxxx
To: dpyan0@sowashco.k12.mn.us
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 10:21:39 AM
Subject: info requested

Mr Pyan,

Can you please tell me the number of open enrolled students being educated at District 833 schools and provide a break down of their home districts?  Thank you.

xxxxxxx

 Barb Brown, Director of Communication response to the request:

From: "Barbara Brown" <bbrown6@sowashco.k12.mn.us>
To: xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 11:15:44 AM
Subject: Your data request

Hello xxx xxxxxxx

I wanted to let you know that your request for data has been forwarded to me.

We have a process for such requests. The form can be found at:  http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/services/communications/forms-procedures.

Once completed, please forward it to me. You should be aware that we are able to charge for the time it takes to pull the data and .25 per copy for the data, so I will provide you with an estimate prior to completing the request.***See comment below!

Thank you.

Barb Brown

Barbara J. Brown
Director of Communications
South Washington County Schools
District Service Center

Phone:  651-458-6209    Fax:  651-458-6318     
www.sowashco.k12.mn.us
ISD833: Serving all or parts of the communities of Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury, Afton, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island - Eastern suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota.

***Comment:  According to Statute 13.03 subdivision 3 (c)  is District 833 complying with the law?

"However, if 100 or fewer pages of black and white, letter or legal size paper copies are requested, actual costs shall not be used, and instead, the responsible authority may charge no more than 25 cents for each page copied"

From: xxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2015 2:48 PM
To: Brown, Barbara
Subject: Re: Your data request

Barb,

I am just looking for numbers, I thought I recalled them being mentioned at a facilities or a budget meeting in the recent past and a breakdown of how many students were coming from each district.

Thanks!

xxxxxxx

 From: "Barbara Brown" <bbrown6@sowashco.k12.mn.us>
To: xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, March 4, 2015 3:20:24 PM
Subject: RE: Your data request

I know that we have the numbers and I will follow through and pursue this for you. We just ask for the Data Request form to track all of the data that people are receiving from the district. I know a report can be pulled that would include where they are from, but that is what we are able to charge for if it is not readily available.

If you need to talk through this, feel free to contact me at the number below.

Thank you.

Barb

Barbara J. Brown
Director of Communications
South Washington County Schools
District Service Center

Phone:  651-458-6209    Fax:  651-458-6318 
www.sowashco.k12.mn.us
ISD833: Serving all or parts of the communities of Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury, Afton, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island - Eastern suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Phone call to District 833 reveals rate District 833 charges to retrieve data for the concerned community member.

"These are the emails to and from Barbara Brown.  I did call her and she stated that it would cost me the lowest paid person's wage for the time that it took to pull it together.  When I inquired as to what that rate of pay was, I was told $28-30 per hour.  HOLY CRAP!  I want to work for the school district!"

Why the Cost Discrepancy Between Requesters?

From: "Brown, Barbara" <bbrown6@sowashco.k12.mn.us>
Date: January 13, 2015 at 3:39:46 PM CST
To: xxxxxxx
Subject: FW: Data Requests

xxxxxx

This is to confirm receipt of your email earlier today, Jan. 13. Rather than complete an invoice, I’m resending (below) the full response to the fees for data requests that was sent to you on Wednesday, Dec. 10. As that email states:

1.    Regarding your request for personal data, we would not have a specific charge available until you confirmed the emails (and based on the time it took to search for and retrieve those emails) that we would be able to charge you for. Plus any fee for a flash drive and/or the cost of ensuring a virus scan of a personal flash drive.

2.    The fee for information gathering for documents from the Long Range Facility Process, your second data request, would be $48.80.

Please let me know if you have any questions in this regard or the next steps you’d like to take.

Thank you.

Barb Brown

Barbara J. Brown
Director of Communications
South Washington County Schools
District Service Center

Phone:  651-458-6209    Fax:  651-458-6318     
www.sowashco.k12.mn.us
ISD833: Serving all or parts of the communities of Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury, Afton, Denmark and Grey Cloud Island - Eastern suburbs of St. Paul, Minnesota.

As you can see, one requester is charged $48.80 per hour by District 833 to gather data while another is charged $28-$30 per hour.   Shouldn't we all receive equal treatment under the law? Why make data requests difficult when the law clearly states that data must be easily accessible to the general public?  It appears as if District 833 is trying to discourage taxpayers from asking for information.

Subscribe to MN Hockey Mama for Part 3 of the series.

 Ridiculous redactions on data requested from the 2013 Black Panther announcement will be revealed as will the IPAD advisory opinion necessary for the South Washington County Bulletin to receive data on the resignation of East Ridge High School Principal, Aaron Harper.