CN: Public Records

The board designates the superintendent as its Freedom of Information Officer. The Freedom of Information Officer shall have the authority to establish and maintain a system of records in accordance with the Kansas Open Records Act and other applicable laws. The board further assigns the clerk and all building principals to handle requests for records and to serve as the custodian of the records. The custodian shall prominently display and distribute or otherwise make available to the public a brochure concerning record access in the form prescribed by the local Freedom of Information Officer.

Types of Records

A public record means any recorded information, regardless of form or characteristics, which is made, maintained, kept by, or in the possession of the district, including those exhibited at public board meetings.

Central Office Records

Records maintained by the superintendent shall include, but may not be limited to, the following: financial, personnel, and property (both real and personal) owned by the district.

Building Records

Records maintained by the building principals shall include, but may not be limited to, the following: activity funds, student records, and personnel records. (See JR et seq.)

Public Access

All records, except those subject to exception by the Kansas Open Records Act, shall be open to inspection by the general public during regular office hours of any school or the district office. The superintendent will establish procedures for making records available on normal business days when district offices are closed.

Requests for access to open records shall be made in writing to an official custodian of district records. The official custodian shall examine each request to determine whether the record requested is an open record or is subject to an exception of the Kansas Open Records Act that would allow the record to remain closed. The custodian may also refuse to provide access to a public record or to permit inspection if a request places an unreasonable burden in producing public records or if the custodian has reason to believe that repeated requests are intended to disrupt other essential functions of the district. The custodian shall either grant or deny each request.

If the custodian does not grant the request, the person requesting the record shall receive a written explanation of the reason for the denial within three days of the request, if an explanation is requested. If the requester disagrees with the explanation, the freedom of information officer shall settle the dispute.

Each request for access to a public record shall be acted upon as soon as possible, but not later than the end of the third business day following the date that the request is received. If the request is not acted on immediately, the custodian shall inform the requester, within the three-day window, when and where the open record will be made available.

Each custodian shall file all requests and their dispositions in the appropriate office and make reports as requested by the superintendent or the board.

The board shall annually set a fee for copies of records. Advance payment of the expense of copying open records shall be borne by the individual requesting the copies. Under no circumstances shall the documents be allowed out of their usual building location without approval of the official custodian.

Copies of Records

Copies of open records shall be available upon written request, unless otherwise specified in Kansas or federal law. Requestors may only make abstracts or obtain copies of public records to which they have access under the Kansas Open Records Act. The district shall not be required to provide copies of radio or recording tapes or discs, video tapes, films, pictures, slides, graphics, illustrations, or similar audio or visual items or devices, unless such items or devices were shown or played during open session of a district board meeting. Similarly, the district shall not be required to provide such items or devices which are copyrighted by a person other than the board. Furthermore, nothing in the Kansas Open Records Act requires the district to electronically make copies available by allowing a requestor to obtain copies by inserting, connecting, or otherwise attaching an electronic device provided by the requestor to the computer or other electronic device of the district.

Advance payment of the expense of providing access to or furnishing copies of open records shall be borne by the requestor. Under no circumstances shall the documents be allowed out of their usual building location without approval of the official custodian.

The board may prescribe reasonable fees for providing access to or furnishing copies of public records, subject to the following:

• In the case of fees for copies of records, the fees shall not exceed the actual cost of furnishing the requested records, including the cost of staff time required to make the information available. Actual costs may include the cost to review and redact the requested records but shall not include incidental costs incurred by the district that are not attributable to furnishing the requested records.
• In the case of fees for providing access to records maintained on computer facilities, the fees shall include only the cost of any computer services, including staff time required.
• If the district incurs costs for staff time to provide access to or furnish copies of public records, the district shall use in good faith the lowest-cost category of staff reasonably necessary to provide access to or furnish copies of public records. Charges for staff time shall be based on the employee's salary or hourly wage but shall not include the costs of employee benefits.
• Upon request, the district shall provide to the person requesting access to or copies of public records an itemized statement of costs incurred by the district and charged to such requester. Such itemized statement shall include, but not be limited to, the hourly rates charged for each employee involved in making the requested records available and an itemized list of any other fees charged to provide access to or furnish copies of the requested records.
• When the staff time needed to respond to a records request will exceed five hours or the estimated actual cost for staff time needed to fill the request exceeds $200, the district shall make reasonable efforts to contact the requester and engage in interactive communication about mitigating costs to fill the request. The requester is not obligated to mitigate costs.

If the district has made reasonable efforts to contact the requester in such a case and the requester has failed to respond by the end of the third business day, the records request will be deemed to be withdrawn until a subsequent contact has been made by the requester to the district.

As used in this policy, "reasonable efforts to contact the requester" means contacting the requester through the means of communication that the requester provided to be used by the district to respond to the request.

Fees received by the district for fees charged in accordance with this policy shall be remitted to the treasurer for deposit in the district's general fund.

Disposition

All district office records shall be kept for at least the minimum length of time required by law.

The clerk is designated as the official custodian of all board and district office records maintained by the district. Each building principal is designated as official custodian of all records maintained at the building level. In addition to those records required by law, the clerk shall be responsible for preparing and keeping other records necessary for the district's efficient operation.

District employees shall follow the guidelines found in the student records policies. (See IDAE and JR through JRD)