skip to content
Primary navigation

Opinion Library

To return to this list after selecting an opinion, click on the "View entire list" link above the opinion title.

Advisory Opinion 05-015

April 20, 2005; School District 728 (Elk River)

4/20/2005 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 March 22, 2005, IPAD received a letter from Harold Shogren, on behalf of the Elk River Education Association (EREA). In his letter, Mr. Shogren asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding the EREA's right to gain access to certain data maintained by Independent School District 728, Elk River. Mr. Shogren's request required clarification with IPAD staff, which he provided on April 1, 2005.

IPAD, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Alan Jensen, District Superintendent, in response to Mr. Shogren's request. The purposes of this letter, dated April 4, 2005, were to inform him of Mr. Shogren's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the District's position. On April 12, 2005, IPAD received a response from Ivars Krafts, an attorney representing the District.

At the outset, the Commissioner notes that Mr. Shogren and William Hjerstedt, President of the EREA, asked for access to the data at issue here, and subsequently communicated with the District, jointly, on behalf of the EREA. A summary of the facts follows.

In a letter to the District dated September 21, 2004, Mr. Hjerstedt requested copies of all the Superintendent's 'Friday Briefings' to the school board.

In a letter dated December 23, 2004, Mr. Shogren wrote to Mr. Jensen: [t]his is a follow up to an EREA letter to you dated September 21, 2004. That letter requested the EREA be provided the complete file of the superintendent's Friday letters to the School Board. This letter reiterates that request . . .

In his letter, Mr. Shogren modified the time frame applicable to the EREA's original data request to reflect that, in response, the District had provided copies of the Friday Briefings for the time period of November 15, 2002, to November 14, 2003. (In a letter dated December 29, 2004, Mr. Hjerstedt corrected certain dates in Mr. Shogren's December 23 letter.) They both stated that they were still requesting copies of the Friday Briefings that the District had not yet provided.

Mr. Jensen responded to Mr. Shogren, in a letter also dated December 23, 2004. Mr. Jensen wrote:

When I gave [Mr. Hjerstedt] copies of the year of Friday Notes I asked if that would suffice as I see no positive value in your request. . . . [He] was asked to let me know if you still wanted more copies and the matter was left at that. Therefore I do not feel constrained by you [sic] comment suggesting that the time has past and that I am remiss in causing this to happen. . . . I will, however, comply with your recent request as soon as possible. Please check your records as I have already given you the second half of your request. . . . I will provide copies of the others you have requested. You will receive letters from the period January 2001 through October 8, 2002.

In his opinion request, Mr. Shogren wrote to the Commissioner that the Friday Briefings are notes written by the Superintendent and sent to each member of the school board. They were written in the period from sometime in 2000 or 2001 and extended into sometime in 2004. Mr. Shogren wrote:

After [his December 23, 2004, request, Mr. Jensen] stated that he would only give the EREA the Briefings for the period from January 2001 through October 2002. In [Mr. Jensen's December 23, 2004 letter,] he also stated that the delay was a result of his request of [Mr. Hjerstedt] to forgo the Briefings not yet received. [Mr. Hjerstedt] did not respond to this verbal request because he thought that in the context of the conversation his failure to respond to the request would be understood as a denial of the request and that the EREA was pursuing its request.

In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Krafts wrote:

As is apparent from the written communication between representatives of the Elk River Education Association and the Superintendent, Dr. Jensen, there was also oral discussion between the Superintendent, and the President of the EREA, William Hjerstedt. Delay resulted from confusion about the time periods for which the notes were requested. . . .

The request by the EREA is a valid one in that portions of the notes do contain public data. The District has very few people qualified to analyze the notes and redact the private data. The District has done its best to comply with the request; yet, the very time-consuming but necessary process of redaction has resulted in a slower than usual response.

Mr. Krafts stated that the District is in the process of redacting the data and will provide copies to the EREA.



Issue:

Based on Mr. Shogren's request for an opinion, the Commissioner agreed to address the following issue:

Did Independent School District 728, Elk River comply with Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, in its response to follow-up requests for data, dated December 23 and 29, 2004?



Discussion:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, when a government entity receives a data request from an individual who is not the subject of the data, the entity is required to respond in an appropriate and prompt manner and within a reasonable time. (See section 13.03, subdivision 2(a), and Minnesota Rules, part 1205.0300.)

The Commissioner notes the confusion, due to verbal communications that neither party clarified, that contributed to the time the District has taken to respond to the EREA's request. However, some seven months after the original request, and four months after the follow-up requests, the District has not yet provided the EREA with copies of all of the requested data, a response that is neither prompt nor within a reasonable time.

In addition, it should be noted that in his letter to Mr. Shogren dated December 23, 2005, Mr. Jensen stated: [a]s you are aware these notes must be reviewed by counsel to ensure that we are releasing public information only as they were not originally written for public distribution. You are also aware that there will be a cost involved in this process that, I am sure, you are not asking the district, during these times, to cover. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Krafts wrote that the Superintendent no longer commingles private and public data in the Friday notes, but now sends private data by separate communication clearly identified as private. The Commissioner commends that change, and reminds her readers that government entities are obliged to maintain data such that the data are easily accessible for convenient use, and entities may not charge a fee for separating public from not public data. (See section 13.03, subdivisions 1 and 3(c).


Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Mr. Shogren raised is as follows:

Independent School District 728, Elk River, did not comply with Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, in its response to follow-up requests for data, dated December 23 and 29, 2004, because its response was neither prompt nor within a reasonable time.

Signed:

Dana B. Badgerow
Commissioner

Dated: April 20, 2005



Response to data requests

Untimely, generally

Public and not public data

back to top