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 PIPA and, with the exception of any data classified as not public, are available for public access.

On March 19, 1998, PIPA received a letter from Sonja D. Kerr, an attorney, on behalf of her client, L. In her letter, Ms. Kerr asked the Commissioner to issue an opinion regarding L's rights as a subject of data maintained by Independent School District (ISD) 197, Mendota Heights. Ms. Kerr enclosed copies of related correspondence.

In response to Ms. Kerr's request, PIPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Robert Monson, Superintendent of ISD 197. The purposes of this letter, dated March 25, 1998, were to inform Mr. Monson of Ms. Kerr's request, and to ask him or the District's attorney to provide information or support for its position. On April 2, 1998, PIPA received a response from Mr. Monson. A summary of the detailed facts of this matter follows.

L is a former employee of ISD 197. According to Ms. Kerr, on December 3, 1997, L made a verbal request to Anthony G. Massaros, attorney and Supervisor of Human Resources for the District, to review all data the District maintains about her/him and then sent two letters to the District, repeating her/his request. L received no response to either letter. On December 8, 1997, L sent a certified letter that the District received on December 9, 1997. The District did not respond. L sent another letter on January 10, 1998, and received no response. L hired Ms. Kerr in February 1998. On February 17, 1998, Ms. Kerr spoke with Mr. Massaros, and asked that L be allowed to review her/his District employment file. In that conversation, Ms. Kerr also asked that she be sent a copy of L's personnel file. That same day, Ms. Kerr faxed a release of information to Mr. Massaros. On February 18, 1998, some 75 days after her/his initial verbal request, L reviewed the file. On February 23, 1998, Ms. Kerr received the copy of L's personnel file. Mr. Massaros has since left the District's employ.

In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Monson wrote: [t]he District's failure to respond to [L's] initial requests was the inadvertent and unintended result of a combination of circumstances. According to Mr. Monson, Mr. Massaros received the initial requests at a time when he (Mr. Massaros) was fully occupied with numerous tasks, and had limited support staff available. Mr Monson wrote: [a]s the District has gone through the process of finding a replacement for Mr. Massaros it has also restructured and reorganized the responsibilities of the position which he held and the staff support it requires. We are confident that the inconvenience which [L] met will not be repeated in the future.