For Immediate Release

Contact: The Perspective (student newspaper)

Genevieve St. Jean, News Editor: (734) 502-5024 

Chris Robbins, Reporter: 734 890-7062

Perspective office: (734) 582-6784

 

SCHOOL DISTRICT BILLS STUDENT $8,806 FOR INFORMATION

 

 

Freedom of Information can come with a hefty price tag: $8,806, to be exact.

 

That's the bill that student newspaper reporter Chris Robbins, a Salem High School senior, got when he submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for emails and other documents regarding the manner in which his district, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, determines which websites to block from school computers.

 

Nick Brandon, Director of Communications for the district, which is the fourth largest in Michigan, sent the bill, an increase over the initial estimate of $7,917.15. After Robbins appealed the initial fee to Superintendent of Schools Michael Meissen, saying it was excessive, he received a second bill for the higher amount. Most of the cost represents 176.3 hours of research the district says it would take to retrieve emails from about 85 teachers and staff members who appealed blocked websites. The amount is based on an hourly rate of  $49.95 per hour.

                                            

According to the Freedom of Information Act, legislation designed to foster transparency in government, the district may charge no more than the hourly wage of the lowest paid employee "capable of searching for, locating, and examining" the requested public records.

 

"I was pretty surprised that the school district would charge a student that much money for information," said Robbins. "I'm trying to write a story about the process the district uses to decide which websites are blocked--why wouldn't they want students and staff to know about that?"

 

After consulting several First Amendment and press associations, as well as attorneys specializing in censorship issues, including Nancy Costello, Associate Clinical Professor of Law of the Michigan State University College of Law, Jane Briggs-Bunting, head of the Michigan Coalition of Open Government, Jeremy Steele, Director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, and Frank LoMonte, Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center, Robbins agreed to narrow his request to exclude most of the emails, retaining the following:

 

1. We request a copy of any procedures/guidelines/rules/rubrics used in determining which websites the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools website will block from student and/or faculty use. 2. We request copies of minutes from the meetings at which those decisions were made (August 1 -November 2, 2015). 3. There has been an appeals process. We request a list of blocked websites that were appealed and subsequently unblocked. 4. We request a list of blocked websites that were appealed and still remain blocked. 7. We request copies of any documents/e-mails shared with Teaching & Learning group members that relate to blocking/unblocking websites (August 1-Nov.2, 2015).

 

The original FOIA also included: 5. When websites were unblocked following appeals, which staff/faculty members requested those websites be unblocked? We request copies of the e-mails in which staff/faculty members made their appeals. 6. When websites remained blocked following appeals, which staff/faculty members' requests were denied? We request copies of the e-mails in which they made their appeals.

 

Robbins did receive a number of documents on November 30, the district's deadline for responding to the FOIA, and he and  news editor Genevieve St. Jean are reviewing them as they draft a story regarding the blocked websites. The story is scheduled to appear in the online edition (www.the-perspective.tk) and the December 18 print edition of the newspaper.

 

"It is important for people in the district to know why and what websites are being blocked because teachers and students utilize technology for learning purposes and tools. The school should have released the information at no charge as this issue [affects] the whole district, " said St. Jean.

 

The newspaper staff  will consider additional FOIA requests.