The following regulations are intended to ensure full and open disclosure of the District's public records.
Public Records
As defined by state statute and provided in Board policy, public records include but are not limited to reports, surveys, memoranda, documents/studies prepared and presented to the Board by consultants or other professional service paid for in any part by public funds, provided that such "records" are retained by the District.
The phrase public records does not include:
- Creation of a document not retained or creation of a summary/compilation of District data where such compilation or summary is not an existing, retained record.
- Internal memoranda or correspondence received by or prepared by or on behalf of the Board where such documents involve advice, opinions, or recommendations related to the Board's decision making process. However, if such memoranda or correspondence is retained by the District or are presented at a public meeting, they will be deemed public records subject to public access.
- District records closed to public access by the Board including but not limited to appropriate legal actions, real estate matters, information related to the performance or merit of individual employees, academic discipline and testing records of personally identifiable students, testing and examination materials, software codes, preparation for employee negotiations, specifications for competitive bidding, personnel records, and sealed bidding.
Request for Inspection and/or Duplication
- Requests for access or duplication of the District's public records must be made to the District's designated custodian of records.
- Upon receipt, the custodian/designee will provide or deny access within three (3) business days of the request. The date of request will not be counted as one of the three (3) business days provided for response. Where reasonable cause exists the three-day response period may be exceeded.
- If access is not immediately provided, the custodian/designee will provide the person requesting access with a detailed explanation of the reason for the delay. The custodian/designee will advise of the earliest date, time, and place when access will be provided.
- If access is denied, the custodian/designee will provide the person requesting access with a written explanation of the reason for denial of access. The written explanation will provide the specific provision of law relied upon in denying access and will be provided within three (3) days of the date when access was denied.
- Fees for duplication of the District's public records must be received prior to copying unless the fee has been waived by the Board. Upon request of the person requesting duplication, the custodian/designee will certify that the actual cost of document search and duplication does not exceed the allowable charges for public records set out in state law.
Unauthorized Removal of Public Records
No person is permitted to remove original public records from District facilities without written permission of the custodian of records/designee. Employees who violate this provision are subject to discipline up to and including termination. Violators may be referred to law enforcement officials.
Commercial Use of District Records
No person or business entity will be provided with the exclusive right to have access to, control over, duplication of, and dissemination of the public records of the District.
