January 5, 2001; School District 284 (Wayzata)
1/5/2001 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:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On October 20, 2000, Mike Herbst sent an email to lbalombiny@wayzata.k12.mn.us requesting four different data elements. Mr. Herbst had received this email address by calling the secretary to the superintendent of School District 284 (Wayzata) and asking for the name, email and fax number of the individual in charge of information dissemination to [sic] the district. When Mr. Herbst did not receive a response to his October 20, 2000 email, he forwarded the message to the superintendent of Wayzata on November 3, 2000. It is not possible to tell what email address was used for the November 3, 2000 email because it does not display in the copy of the email forwarded by Mr. Herbst. Mr. Herbst has not received a response to either email. On November 21, 2000, Mr. Herbst asked the Commissioner of Administration to issue an advisory opinion about the appropriateness of Wayzata's response to his request for data. On December 1, 2000, Donald Gemberling of the Information Policy Analysis Division sent a letter to Dr. Paul Beilfuss, the superintendent of Wayzata, informing him of Mr. Herbst's request and offering Wayzata the opportunity to respond. On December 15, 2000, a response was received from Gloria Olsen, attorney for Wayzata. In her response, Ms. Olsen indicated that Wayzata had not received either of Mr. Herbst's emails. She further indicated that Wayzata was not aware of having provided an incorrect email address to Mr. Herbst. After receiving the notice of a request for an advisory opinion, Dr. Beilfuss sent Mr. Herbst an email on December 7, 2000 informing him that the emails had not been received and that the addresses that had been used by Mr. Herbst were incorrect. The December 7, 2000 email did not respond to any of Mr. Herbst's requests. Ms. Olsen's response on behalf of Wayzata included information that was responsive to Mr. Herbst's requests. Ms. Olsen provided the name of Wayzata's data practices compliance official and indicated that teacher/administrator turnover rates and information about where teachers or administrators worked before being employed by Wayzata were not data maintained by Wayzata. Ms. Olsen also requested clarification of what was meant by Mr. Herbst's request for the district data retention list. The response did not address why this information had not been provided directly to Mr. Herbst. Issue:In the request for an opinion, Mr. Herbst asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:The discussion of the issue presented in this advisory opinion must follow two paths: one that assumes that Mr. Herbst received an incorrect email address from Wayzata personnel and the second that assumes that Mr. Herbst somehow erred in entering the email address on his emails directed to Wayzata. If Mr. Herbst received an incorrect email address from Wayzata in response to his inquiry on October 20, 2000, then Wayzata needs to take corrective steps to ensure that accurate data are provided to those that inquire. According to Minnesota Statutes, sections 13.03, subdivision 2 and 13.05, subdivision 8, government entities such as Wayzata are required to have procedures in place to respond to requests for access to government data. It appears that no such procedures are in place as Mr. Herbst did not receive a response to his October 20, 2000 request for data. Model policies and procedures are available for Wayzata to use. One set is available from the Minnesota School Boards Association and another has been developed by the Department of Administration and is available on the Web at www.ipad.state.mn.us. Hopefully, these will be of assistance to Wayzata. If, on the other hand, Mr. Herbst did not enter the correct address when sending either the October 20, 2000 or the November 3, 2000 emails, then Wayzata did not receive a request for data and has no obligation to respond. It is also appropriate to address an issue raised in Wayzata's response. Wayzata is not certain what constitutes the data retention list requested by Mr. Herbst. When a government entity receives a request that is not clear, its obligation is to ask the requester for clarification. As Wayzata develops procedures, a method for handling requests that need clarification should be included. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Herbst is as follows:
Signed:
Kirsten Cecil
Dated: January 5, 2001
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Requests for data
Data subject rights of access procedures (13.05, subd. 8)/(13.025, subd. 3)
Entity responsibility
