The Kansas Meadowlark has an informational page featuring descriptions of websites about open records and information about government.
The link is kansasmeadowlark.com/open-records.
Tag: Open records
Records requests are not always easy
It seems that citizens all over the country have trouble with public school districts and records requests. Sometime you have to battle not only the school district, but also third parties such as teachers unions. My friend Chetly Zarko has been in such as battle, as reported here: Livingston Daily Reports on Zarko victory over the MEA.
Wichita Public School District: Taxation Without Information is the Policy
Taxation without information. I wish I could take credit for inventing this phrase that I recently heard someone use. It captures very well the key characteristic of USD 259, the Wichita public school district, and its campaign for the proposed 2008 bond issue. This school district resists providing information that will help journalists and citizens hold the district accountable. Until the district changes its attitude towards accountability, the citizens of Wichita should not invest in an expensive bond issue.
The district does release a lot of information, of course. Whether it is useful in making a decision about the proposed bond issue is up to each voter to decide. Sometimes these facts have been expressed unclearly. This was the case when I and a number of journalists used an incorrect figure for the cost of the safe rooms. The district issued a clarification, so now we have the correct information -– maybe.
Other needed clarifications, however, are not easy to obtain. The number of classrooms at each school, the subject of one records request, is an example. It seems that people intuitively understand the number of classrooms. They reason like this: “For school A, the district may estimate an enrollment of B students. The goal for class size is C students per class. Currently school A has D number of classrooms. So let’s do the arithmetic and see if school A needs more classrooms.”
Is it as simple as this, or is the situation more complicated? Doesn’t the district go through a process similar to this when it figures how many teachers are needed at each school?
More importantly, since overcrowding is given as one reasons why the Wichita school district needs a bond issue, shouldn’t facts and figures like these be known by the district, readily available, and shouldn’t the public be able to see them?
Similarly, the district and it supporting citizen group have made claims like “studies show that ______.” But when asked to cite the name of the study or to provide a reference to it, you might have to wait nine days, despite assurances that the information was forthcoming soon. That has been my experience on more than one occasion. The conclusion we can draw is that the Wichita school district makes claims that it has no evidence for. When questioned, they have to look for it.
The Wichita school district’s attitude towards the public is demonstrated by this: As related in In Wichita, Don’t Take Photographs of the School Administration Building! a citizen, standing on a public sidewalk taking a photograph of the Wichita school district administration building, was ordered by a district security guard to stop.
Wichita public school logo fight legal costs
Yesterday’s Wichita Eagle reported in a story that USD 259, the Wichita public school district, “… worked for about five years to get its mark registered over the objection of Washington apple growers …”
The article is referring to a logo that Wichitans for Effective Education has been using on some of its printed materials.
I wondered why a public school district would spend any time or money to register its trademark, much less engage in a protracted legal effort. That can’t be cheap.
Someone mentioned to me that colleges do this so that they can license the use of their logos for use on shirts and other items. I haven’t been able to find evidence that the Wichita schools have done this, or that they plan to. The search interface on USD 259’s website is not functioning, so maybe that’s why I can’t find it.
The costs incurred in the fight for this trademark, however, is an important question. The answer will help us learn more about the goals and motivations in effect at USD 259. So I’ve filed a records request asking USD 259 for this information:
Copies of all invoices and bills received and/or paid by USD 259 for legal services, plus records of internal time and resources used, related to the district’s efforts to trademark its apple logo, including records related to the district’s approximately five-year effort to get its mark registered over the objection of Washington apple growers.
Wichita School District: Accountability is on Our Terms
USD 259, the Wichita public school district, wants to be held accountable. They say so. It’s a theme of the proposed bond issue, as recently stated by celebrity spokesman George Fahnestock: “…the district’s accountability is strong…” (See CARE launches Yes For Kids campaign)
But what happens when citizens seek information from USD 259 that will let them verify claims made by the district?
One of the things I and others have been looking at is the number of classrooms in the district’s schools. We made a records request asking for this number, and we were told this information would cost us $860. (See Wichita School District Values Its Information Highly)
I wondered if the district actually knows how many classrooms it has. Interim superintendent Martin Libhart told me at a May 12 school board meeting “We do know how many classrooms we have, I can assure you of that.” Follow-up correspondence with Mr. Libhart revealed that the count of classrooms is a slightly more complicated issue than it might appear at first. Still, no count is available. So Wichitans are left with this message from USD 259: We can’t tell you how many classrooms we have, but we’re sure we need many more.
Even simple requests post a problem. Asking for the definition of a “violent act” in the context of statistics for USD 259 that I collected from the Kansas State Department of Education requires weeks of waiting and follow up messages. Finally, a request to be placed on the agenda of a board meeting produced the answer I was looking for.
On top of this, citizens who request information like this from USD 259 are made to feel guilty. That’s right. Lynn Rogers, now Wichita school board president, says these records requests interfere with the board’s mission of educating children. (Wichita Public Schools: Open Records Requests Are a Burden)
I recently made a request for records from USD 259. It was rejected. This week I revised the request and narrowed its scope. We’ll have to see how this request is handled.
Recently, a top investigative journalist told me that with the declining resources of local newspapers, many government agencies routinely deny records requests or slow-walk them, as agencies know that newspapers don’t have the resources to vigorously pursue requests.
USD 259 consumes huge resources. Its budget is larger than either the City of Wichita or Sedgwick County, and it grows rapidly. It now asks for Wichitans to support even more spending in the form of the proposed bond issue. But when asked for information that Wichitans can use, the district’s answer is clear: accountability is on our terms.
Records Requests Sent Today
Today, I’ve made two records requests under the Kansas Open Records Act.
The first, to USD 259, the Wichita public school district, is this:
All correspondence between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture and its representatives from July 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as email. This would include email between USD 259 and Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture’s email accounts at sjcf.com, and also email accounts of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey Architecture representatives such as Joe Johnson, Kenton Cox, and Ken Arnold that may not be at an sjcf.com email address.
Then, to the City of Wichita:
All correspondence between the City of Wichita and HH Holdings, LLC and its representatives from January 1, 2007 to the present. I ask for both written and electronic correspondence such as email. This would include email between the City of Wichita and Kevass Harding at both business and personal email addresses, between the City of Wichita and Key Construction and its representatives at both business and personal email addresses, and between the City of Wichita and Landmark Commercial Real Estate at both business and personal email addresses.
Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet: Not an Example of Sarah Palin’s Transparent Government
Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch has done some investigative work seeking to understand the role of The Center for Climate Strategies in Alaska.
(The Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet plays the same role there that the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group (KEEP) plays here.)
In his excellent and informative post Palin, Alaska’s Climate Commission, and (Lack of) Transparency, Paul traces the formation of the climate change panel in Alaska by Governor Sarah Palin and CCS’s involvement in that. At the same time, he illustrates the frustration that those making records requests of government agencies often experience.
You can also read about CCS’s appointment recommendations. Did CCS also make these recommendations in Kansas? I’d like to know. But as Paul’s article shows, sometimes finding the answer to these questions is difficult and time-consuming.
Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group: Hiding Budget Numbers
Paul Chesser of Climate Strategies Watch writes about the budget transparency of the Kansas Energy and Environmental Policy Advisory Group, or KEEP.
Kansas government often has troubles with transparency. One of the main problems with KEEP is that policy is being formulated under the guidance of an outside radical environmentalist group, instead of in the legislature by Kansans, where it belongs.
Climate Strategies Watch is a great place to learn more about the Center for Climate Strategies. For example: “CCS portrays itself as a technical advisory service organization that does not advocate for specific policies that will affect climate change. However, certain facts about CCS belie this claim and prove the group is controlled by global warming alarmists who seek solutions that will dramatically increase energy costs and raise taxes, in addition to infringing upon freedom and property rights.”