School districts price parents on record demand by charging tens of thousands of dollars at "exorbitant fees"

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Parents across the United States have been charged tens of thousands of requests for public records in the school district, including millions of fees,, FoxNews Digital learned. .. 

Fox News Digital believes that parents and schools in counties such as Michigan, Oregon and Road Island are using exorbitant fees for pricing. I talked to a public record expert. Parents from legally entitled information, such as those related to the curriculum. 

Parents at Frederick County Public School in Maryland told Fox News Digital that they requested a month-long email between various entities and were asked to pay $ 5,000. .. "I never got a [record] because my taxes far exceed what I'm willing to pay for the information I've already paid," she said. .. She asked FCPS for comment, but she didn't respond immediately. 

In Oregon,Oregon Ministry of Educationhit $ 10 per email review on various requests. For example, checking 963 emails cost $ 9,630. For 382 emails, the cost was $ 3,820. According to a complaint to the Chief Attorney reviewed by Fox News Digital, 109 emails will cost $ 1,090. The total charges subject to complaints were eventually reduced from nearly 15K to hundreds of dollars.

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The Oregon Department of Education has given parents $ 9,630 for a request for public records. I'm estimating the price. (Fox News)

Another request that the parent sent to ODE came back for $ 1,525. According to an email reviewed by Fox News Digital, ODE's rules coordinator "can narrow the scope of requests to reduce overall cost estimates." 

"How do I narrow down my requests? This is not a single document .... What does narrow mean, to download and email one document? I don't know if it costs $ 1,525, or why 3 IT departments take hours to download and email one document again. Please explain, "the parent asked. Fox News Digital asked ODE for comment, but didn't get an immediate response.

In Rochester, Michigan, the district reportedly charged as much as $ 18 million to complete the request. "I don't know what they're hiding, but they're definitely hiding information. Why is it so hard for parents to get a Public Record when there's nothing to hide? "Is it?" The parents told the local media. 

Another parent in the district said she had a public record fee of $ 172,951.67. 

"There are millions of parents, and most parents are afraid to speak up," said parent Laurie Madigan. 

"FOIA was used to process and respond to FOIA requests when, due to the nature of FOIA requests, the district would incur unreasonably high costs if not charged. The district can charge a specific fee. "The school district told Fox News Digital in a statement. The examples they provided include large requests, requests that require time-consuming searches, and major edits. Included.

Rochester, Michigan, Parent Estimated 170K for the general public Record Request(Fox News )

Parents for sharing stubs with the media The fear is due to the story that the school district is acting against parents. One district was accused of spying on a list that tracks more than 200 parents. The Rochester school district is 3 In a month, she finally paid $ 190,000 in a settlement agreement with her parents, who claimed that her employer was contacted by someone in the school district and lost her job. Advocated on social media to help return to face-to-face learning. 

Rochester's adviser denied cheating that he was involved not only in the existence of the list but also in retaliation. "The Rochester Community School has no paperwork. The concept of the paperwork seems to have been devised by a lawyer for litigation purposes. The Rochester Community School does not have a list of parent names on social media," the district said earlier. Said to. 

"I didn't know anyone was watching something until I was called to the Human Resources Department," said her parent Elena Dinverno. Deputy director Debra Fragomeni contacted her employer and informed her that she was part of a "threatening" Facebook group, local media reported. Fox News Digital contacted Fragomeni but did not receive an immediate response. 

"The fact that they are doing it in secret, the fact that they are editing their parents' documents ... was shocking to me," the parents said. .. 

"How courageous. How do you track me?" A parent named Stephanie Van Deal told the school's board of directors. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, the district said: It has been shown to be part of media, publications, and broadcasts, including comments from social media, and contains clues that could have prevented the loss of life if they were performed.

On Road Islandin South Kingstown, a parent activist named Nicole Solusmade a request equivalent to 74K for a school curriculum for her daughter who was in kindergarten at the time. Sent. She told FoxNews Digital that it was her last resort because the school refused to answer her question. 

"If the price of public information isn't affordable and isn't really public information, it's a government secret," Solas said.

South Kingstown Road Island, named Nicole Solus The mother was sued by the National Education Association after she sent numerous requests for public records.  (Fox News )

"I don't think [this fee] is reasonable under any circumstances," she said. Jon Riches of Gold Water Institute, a lawyer at FoxNews Digital, said in an interview with FoxNews Digital. "That is, parents have the right to know what their children are trying to learn, including access to the curriculum, lesson plans, and everything else in the classroom [it]. Is free. There must be no formal public recording process. The district must post that information on publicly available websites so that parents and their children can make informed decisions.

Later, Solas was slammed in a lawsuit by the National Education Association, the Teachers' Union. "In essence, (they) were trying to stop the process of public recording," Riches said. "I think it was a pure threatening tactic to tell parents that they knew what was best for their child, and they hated it when they actively and responsibly tried to get information. And you'll be on their list next. "

"Just bullying a home-based mother like me, sued by NEA, a special interests organization. There are $ 300 million in slash funds available at. An opener on how public schools actually operate. " 

Fox News Digital asked NEA for comment, but did not immediately respond. However, Bob Walsh, the union's secretary-general, had previously argued that Solas should have access to the school's curriculum. The lawsuit is to "prevent school committees from publishing what is 100% protected by law" and "whether it is necessary to publish personal names, that is, for the benefit of privacy, individual teachers. Is more than the underlying element of the request. "He said Solas was named in the lawsuit because" the law requires all interested parties to be named in complaints. " Added.

President Byden is the annual meeting of the National Education Association. I will give a lecture at. Washington D. C. , July 2, 2021.  ( Samuel Corum / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"This incident has nothing to do with Nicole Solus," he said. 

In December,Florida dad, who has a son with autism, was supervised by Hillsboro County Public School after being charged $ 8,020 on a mask request. I sued one Addison Davis. Obligation; The father believed that virtual learning discriminates against his son. Fox News Digital contacted Davis but didn't get an immediate response.

"I'm a random black man in Tampa," Blakewarner said. "I am confident that if we can understand all these harms to our children, then the members and managers of the Board of Education will understand as well."

In addition, journalists are exorbitant to their requests. I have been charged a fee. At Iowa, a journalist named Jacob Hall requested a record related to "Transgender Week" at Limmer High School. He costs $ 604,000 for a record. Fox News Digital asked the principal for comment, but did not respond immediately.

Randy Evans, executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, told Fox News Digital that the 604K was the best I've ever seen. But he sees thousands of charges on a daily basis, and he believes it's too expensive. "In reality, it seems outrageous to me for most ordinary people in Iowa to have to write a $ 1,000 or $ 1,200 check to get a record of what's happening in their school district.

The district argues that the baluning request sent will hire more people and pay thousands of dollars to respond to the information. Depending on the nature of the request, the school may need to be edited with great care. Alternatively, choose to send the record to a lawyer for review. 

For example,The new Hanover County school in North Carolinahas received a large number of requests and decided to start billing last year. In one example, the requests they receive elicit 400,000 emails and are estimated to cost $ 100,000 to print.  

Public schools have a hard time catching up There is a surge in demand for public records. (iStock)

And in Minnesota, a law firm called Equalityin Education has submitted 41 applications to the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district . The page was estimated to cost $ 900,000 to run. According to director Kent Pekel, it takes 13,000 hours to create all the records. The local newspaper strongly criticized the request. "We wish you good luck by perusing tens of thousands of pages of documentation when searching for text messages from third grade teachers who use the words" race "and" critical "in the same sentence." I am saying.

However, while Iowa's public record experts agree that "there is a cost associated with public records," schools argue that schools need to find ways to keep prices down. doing. Evans trains staff on what the school needs to legally edit and withhold, for example, to avoid infringement of student privacy or because of Family Rights and Protection Act (FERPA). He said he should pay the lawyer to issue a memorandum of understanding for.

"I don't think the only way to prevent a FERPA violation is to have a lawyer halfway away from the state check all the emails that are being considered for release. "Evans said. 

"I think the government is using costs as a way to keep records out of the reach of the general public," he continued. 

And, in addition to the alleged tactics of using exorbitant fees to restrict public access, the school may strongly believe that parents exist. May deny having. 

Parent fulfills request for public record To do.  (iStock)

For example,Carol Beth Litkouhi, a public high school in Rochesterteaches "ethnicity and gender" I heard that there is. the study. When Ritkohi asked her school for her record, they gave her her lesson plan and informed her that she would need to send her a public record request if she wanted more. I did. 

Her mother sent the request for months, but she received a refusal that the requested record did not exist, she told FoxNews Digital.

"They have avoided sending replies to other parents, but they are using other types of tactics, such as charging people for these exorbitant information fees. "She said.

"In fact, before the lawsuit was filed, the Rochester Community School provided or made available the requested materials that it had deliberately owned," the district told Fox News in a statement. rice field. "Also, in line with our obligations to copyright owners under applicable law, an invitation was made to give the requester the opportunity to arrange a direct review of the copyrighted work in response to the FOIA request. Extended. Requester does not schedule time. Check copyrighted material. "

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Ritkohi sued the district on this matter. 

About what her parents need to know about these demands, her lawyer Steve Delie said: Our record. And we should be able to access them. And if they find a barrier to it, they should look for a legal representative who can help them.