Challenges for PRA Requests by Other Individuals (U-T Article, Aug 20, 2011)

Apparently, I am not the only one facing challenges requesting information via the PRA from SDUSD.

 

S.D. UNIFIED TO REVIEW PUBLIC RECORDS POLICY FOLLOWING COMPLAINT
Parent was originally told she would be charged for staff time to make copies

Author(s): ASHLY MCGLONE U-T   Date: August 20, 2011 Section: Main News

A parent-activist who was going to be charged for staff time so she could see San Diego Unified Superintendent Bill Kowba's calendar won't incur that cost, after her story was highlighted in The Watchdog. The district ended up charging Sally Smith $2.70 — 10 cents a page — for the cost of duplicating the public record.Smith had been told she would be charged 10 cents per page "plus clerical time for the actual duplication, at a rate of $20 to $28 per hour."Typically, public agencies charge for the cost of making a copy, not for staff time to do so.After The Watchdog highlighted the effort to charge Smith for staff time, the district backed away.The district's policy of charging for staff time in such cases previously caught the attention of the Sacramento-based open-government group Californians Aware. That fee contributed to the district earning an F in the group's audit of public agency compliance with public records law, released earlier this year.District officials said they will now review their copying rates."We are entitled to recover the costs to produce a record that is maintained in electronic form," said Andra Donovan, the district's deputy general counsel. She added, "In light of the concerns raised by the U-T, we will review our copying charges to make sure they are an accurate reflection of the direct costs of duplication."Additionally, The Watchdog compared the calendar provided to Smith with a calendar provided to Emily Alpert of voiceofsandiego.org and found that Smith's calendar was incomplete and the redacting was inconsistent.Alpert's version included auditor visits, as well as cabinet, area superintendent and principal meetings, charity meetings, chamber of commerce and city events, select employee travel, sexual harassment training for a staff member, and media interviews — all of which were left off Smith's calendar.Meanwhile, Smith's calendar included a carpool meet-up with the dean of San Diego State University's College of Education and other employee travel redacted from the calendar provided to Alpert.By law, agencies may withhold documents related to pending litigation and personnel, medical or similar files if disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.Told of the discrepancy, Donovan said the district will reproduce a more complete calendar and give it to Smith free of charge."We will also review our redaction policies to make sure we are consistently and appropriately redacting information," Donovan said.Smith, who wished to compare Kowba's appointments with those of former Superintendent Terry Grier, said she was concerned about the district's handling of her request."Californians Aware graded school districts across the state and San Diego Unified got an F, and I can see why. It is intimidating to go in and ask for public records and have to encounter so much trouble getting them," Smith said. "San Diego Unified has to be more transparent and has to be open to requests and let the public see what it is doing."In 2009, The San Diego Union-Tribune requested copies of the calendars for 55 local government leaders, including Grier. The requests were all fulfilled with no fees.District officials said budget cuts no longer allow for such freebies.ashly.mcglone@uniontrib.com (619) 293-1725 • Twitter: @sdutAshly

Opinion Regarding SDUSD Response to Request Academic Performance Data

I was disappointed in the response from SDUSD, but not surprised.  Prior meetings with Mr. Ron Rode indicated that he was opposed to releasing such a rich database of information.  His primary concern was the violation of student privacy.  Mr. Rode's and Ms. Donovan's contention is that the information I requested was sufficient to reveal the identify of individual students and therefore a violation of FERPA.

In brief summary, PRA is the Public Records Act of California.  It requires that public agencies in California release to individuals data or records it has stored.  The release has few exceptions.  More details may be found in:

Summary Public Records Act


FERPA is the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act.  It is federal legislation that takes precedence over the PRA.  However, FERPA is specifically constructed with several clauses relevant to the analysis of academic performance.  The first is for analysis by volunteers or contractors:

Section 99.31(a)
(a) An educational agency or institution may disclose personally identifiable information from an education record of a student without the consent required by §99.30 if the disclosure meets one or more of the following conditions:
(1)(i)(A) The disclosure is to other school officials, including teachers, within the agency or institution whom the agency or institution has determined to have legitimate educational interests.
(B) A contractor, consultant, volunteer, or other party to whom an agency or institution has outsourced institutional services or functions may be considered a school official under this paragraph provided that the outside party—
( 1 ) Performs an institutional service or function for which the agency or institution would otherwise use employees;
( 2 ) Is under the direct control of the agency or institution with respect to the use and maintenance of education records; and
( 3 ) Is subject to the requirements of §99.33(a) governing the use and redisclosure of personally identifiable information from education records.
(ii) An educational agency or institution must use reasonable methods to ensure that school officials obtain access to only those education records in which they have legitimate educational interests. An educational agency or institution that does not use physical or technological access controls must ensure that its administrative policy for controlling access to education records is effective and that it remains in compliance with the legitimate educational interest requirement in paragraph (a)(1)(i)(A) of this section.
(2) The disclosure is, subject to the requirements of §99.34, to officials of another school, school system, or institution of postsecondary education where the student seeks or intends to enroll, or where the student is already enrolled so long as the disclosure is for purposes related to the student's enrollment or transfer.

More importantly, FERPA allows for the disclosure of information that has been "de-identified".  This means that information must be removed which "would allow a reasonable person in the school community, who does not have personal knowledge of the relevant circumstances, to identify the student with reasonable certainty."


See for example (page 8):


ferpa_2_9_09

So, now we are attempting to determine what is the maximum information that can be released which meets these standards.

Response from SDUSD regarding Academic Performance Request

The request for academic performance data was made on July 19, 2011.  The Public Records Act requires response within ten (10) business days.  The following is the response received from SDUSD, slightly after the ten day period on August 11, 2011.

Dear Mr. Catanzaro,

 

This will respond to your email below, and request for public records under the California Public Records Act (“PRA”).   You are correct that, typically, a public agency must respond to a PRA request within ten days of receipt.  However, pursuant to Government Code section 6253(c), in unusual circumstances, that time may be extended for an additional 14 days upon written notice to the requester.  “Unusual circumstances” includes the need to search for, identify and review large volumes of data and/or to compile data.  Your request falls into this category.   Accordingly, please allow this email correspondence to serve as the District’s notice of extension as well as our substantive response to your request.

 

For the following reasons, your request as stated must be denied.   First, we do not have a “record” as that term is defined in the PRA, which is responsive to your request.   There is nothing in the PRA which requires a public agency to create a record where no such record exists.  More importantly, we are prohibited under the federal Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act from providing a “list of personal characteristics or other information that would make a student’s identity easily traceable.”  (34 C.F.R. 99.3.)   Were we to compile the data you requested on a per-student basis, even using a key or identifier instead of a name, the sum of the information would make each student’s identity easily traceable.    The PRA provides an exception from disclosure requirements where disclosure is prohibited under state or federal law.  (Cal. Gov. Code §6254(k).) 

 

It may be possible to provide a partial response to your request, if you can narrow it such that there is insufficient information to allow a student’s identity to be traced.   Please let me know if I can assist you developing a more narrow request.   

 

Kind Regards,

Andra M. Donovan

Deputy General Counsel

Requesting Academic Performance Data from SDUSD

I have requested academic performance data from SDUSD for several purposes. Many parents, teachers, and administrative staff have expressed concern and curiosity regarding academic performance. In particular:

• How sites in the Mission Bay cluster compare with other clusters?
• How well students in the cluster are prepared for Mission Bay?
• How well students that select Mission Bay after attending other clusters are prepared?
• How well students from the region do in other clusters?

These and many other questions are on the minds of our community.


The request made to SDUSD is as follows:


Adel,
 I have been directed to make my request for data to your office (see below).  I am requesting data on SDUSD students (specifically test data) to better understand and communicate student performance trends.  I request a database of the following information:

*  Test score data [actual scores, not ranking or proficiency levels; all subjects; all grade levels]
    o  STAR CST
    o  NAEP
    o  CAHSEE
 *  Student attendance zone indicating the elementary, middle school, or high school where the student is nominally assigned based upon residence
 *  Site of attendance for the student
 *  Grade level
 *  Ethnicity
 *  Title 1 status (Yes/No)
 *  EL (Yes/No)
 *  GATE status (Non-identified/GATE/Seminar)
 *  Military (Yes/No)
 *  IEP (Yes/No)

 This data includes all SDUSD students (all grade levels, all sites) from academic years beginning in 2000/01 and up to and including 2010/11.  The database should include a key or identifier which can be used to track a student from year to year, but which cannot be used to easily determine the identification of an individual student.  Acceptable database formats include MySQL and CSV files.  Other file formats can be discussed with the appropriate individual.

 Please bear in mind that similar data was released from LAUSD to the LA Times based upon the California Public Information Act.    See the following:  http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/15/local/la-me-teachers-value-about-20100815

 "Students take the California Standards Tests in math and English every year beginning in second grade. The Times obtained scores for the academic years 2002-03 through 2008-09 from LAUSD under the California Public Records Act. Included were 1.5 million scores from 603,500 students. Students' names were not included, but their teachers' names were."

 Thank you for your cooperation.

 Sincerely,
 Brian Catanzaro, PhD