June 26, 2002; School District 276 (Minnetonka)
6/26/2002 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:On June 7, 2002, IPAD received a letter dated June 5, 2002, from X, a student enrolled in School District 276, Minnetonka. In his/her letter, X asked the Commissioner to issue an opinion regarding X's access to certain data that the District maintains. IPAD, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Dennis Peterson, Superintendent of the District, in response to X's request. The purposes of this letter, dated June 12, 2002, were to inform him of X's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the District's position. On June 21, 2002, IPAD received a response, dated June 14, 2002, from Mark Wolak, Assistant Superintendent for Administration Accountability. A summary of the facts that X presented is as follows. In a letter dated February 8, 2002, X asked to review the following data: All data about me, relating to an incident between...an employee of District 276 and myself dated 11/15/2001....Pursuant to [Minnesota Statutes, sections 13.04 and 13.43]. In addition I am also requesting any public data regarding the incident pursuant to 13.43. In his/her opinion request, X stated, To date there has been no contact concerning this request. I am therefore requesting an opinion from your office on the aforementioned districts [sic] lack of action concerning the above request. Issue:In his/her request for an opinion, X asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, and Minnesota Rules, Part 1205.0300, when an individual makes a request for public data of which the requestor is not the subject, the government entity must respond in a prompt and appropriate manner, and within a reasonable time, respectively. Pursuant to section 13.04, when an individual makes a request for data of which s/he is the subject, the entity must respond within ten working days. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Wolak wrote: A June 5 letter from [X] states that the school district has made no contact with [X] regarding this request. This is not accurate. [X's] request of February 8 was responded to on February 25 and a copy of that letter is enclosed with this letter of response to you. Mr. Wolak provided a copy of the February 25, 2002, letter to the Commissioner. (Mr. Wolak wrote this letter to X.) In the letter, Mr. Wolak wrote, Please be advised that no public data/documentation exists relating to an incident on November 15, 2001, between an employee... and you. In his/her data request, X asked for any public data about an incident involving him/her and an employee at one of the District's schools. According to Mr. Wolak's February 25, 2002, letter, no such data exist. Since the District has no data responsive to this part of X's request, it was appropriate for Mr. Wolak to respond in the way he did. However, X also asked for any data about him/her relating to the incident. Such data most likely would be private and the District should have responded within ten working days. The District has not responded to this part of X's data request. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that X raised is as follows:
Signed: David F. Fisher
Dated: June 26, 2002 |
Copy costs
Existence of data
Response to data requests
Data does not exist
