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OPRA Requests
Stay with us till the end, dear reader, for it gets interesting below. The lawmakers in the State of NJ passed the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) some years ago as a measure to allow more openness in the records of state agencies, municipalities and schools, among other places. Folks like us can make requests of public organizations to supply copies of just about any document that does not compromise the private information of individuals or the security of certain public systems. Public agencies must appoint an official record keeper to handle requests. The law is strict and simple to understand. It even mentions some types of public documents specifically, such as individual employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements which must be made available "immediately" upon the request of anyone. (The request can even be made anonymously.) The reader might be interested to know that the immediacy of access was tested in 2003 by an individual running for a school board seat who was denied a request for a copy of an individual employment contract. Fortunately, the Government Records Council, a kind of mediation board, corrected that problem in Blanchard v Rahway Board of Education, case No. 2003-57. A member of readingtonparents.org submitted a request for the very same type of document, along with some others, on October 26 at about 12 noon. A very professional and helpful secretary at the school arranged for the request form and received the fax. On October 27, at about 1:00pm, the person making the request called back to see if the documents were ready for pickup. While the documents are supposed be available "immediately", more time was given to allow for copying. We're all busy, after all. Strangely, the very helpful secretary--now caught in the middle--told the caller that the request had been sent to the Superintendent's office for review, even though the official recordkeeper is Business Administrator Frances Tolley. Huh. Oh, and now a signature in person would be required instead of the faxed signature. After some discussion, the secretary elected that either Ms. Tolley or our esteemed Superintendent would call back with further guidance. At 4:00pm on October 27, a voicemail message from the secretary noted that the documents would be ready on Monday, or about a week from the original request. A subsequent call back did not bring the Superintendent on the line, but a courteous and professional Frances Tolley did answer her phone. After some information was exchanged, it was determined that the documents could be ready by Friday instead of Monday. Frances Tolley and the secretary were both professional, though probably exasperated during this exchange. More to the point, why would the Superintendent's office get involved in a simple request if the record keeper is the Business Administrator? Control, control, control. This minor incident sums up the rallying cry of our Superintendent's office: "Circle the wagons, parents are coming!" |
