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October 20, 2000; School District 2889 (Lake Park/Audubon)
10/20/2000 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 August 28, 2000, IPA received a letter from George Kohn. In this letter, Mr. Kohn asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his right to gain access to certain data maintained by Independent School District 2889, Lake Park-Audubon. In response to Mr. Kohn's request, IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Stephen F. Twitchell, District Superintendent. The purposes of this letter, dated August 31, 2000, were to inform him of Mr. Kohn's request and to ask him to provide information or support for the District's position. On September 15 and 21, 2000, IPA received responses from Gloria Husarik, Secretary to the Superintendent, and Mr. Twitchell, respectively. A summary of the facts of this matter follows. According to Mr. Kohn, on August 10, 2000, he asked to inspect the resolution and appointing order for the responsible authority of the District. No such Order was forthcoming; instead, Mr. Kohn was referred to the new Policy manual. In her response to the Commissioner, Ms. Husarik wrote: The ISD 2889 Board of Education approved policy number 406 Public and Private Personnel Data with Superintendent Twitchell as the Data Privacy Information Officer at its regular board meeting on August 21, 2000. In conference with [the Minnesota School Boards Association], we were under the impression that a motion would be the appropriate action to take. The ISD 2889 Board of Education now understands that this was not totally accurate according to statute. The Board will take the appropriate action to name by resolution the Data Privacy Information Officer, at its next regularly scheduled board meeting on September 18, 2000. In his response to the Commissioner, Mr. Twitchell enclosed a copy of the resolution passed by the Board on September 18, 2000. The resolution reads, in part, as follows: Whereas, a school district must have a data privacy information officer, be it resolved, by the School Board of Independent School District No. 2889 that Superintendent Stephen Twitchell will serve as the Data Privacy Information Officer for District 2889 until such time as the Board names a replacement. Issue:In his request for an opinion, Mr. Kohn asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 16, Responsible authority' in any political subdivision means the individual designated by the governing body of that political subdivision as the individual responsible for the collection, use, and dissemination . . . of government data. Pursuant to Minnesota Rules Part 1205.1000: Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 16, the governing body of each political subdivision . . . shall, by September 30, 1981, if it has not done so, appoint a responsible authority. . . . . The governing body shall confer on the responsible authority full administrative authority to carry out the duties assigned by the act and by this chapter. According to Minnesota Rules, Part 1205.0200, subpart 14 (C), the responsible authority for a school district shall be an individual employee of the school district appointed by the school board. In particular, Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, sections 13.03, 13.04 and 13.05, and Minnesota Code of Agency Rules, parts 1205.1100 through 1205.1500, detail the duties of responsible authorities. By resolution passed on September 18, 2000, the School Board named Superintendent Twitchell the Data Privacy Information Officer for District 2889, but did not appoint him to be the District's responsible authority, with all the associated duties and authority conferred by Chapter 13 and its enabling rules. The District cannot fully comply with the requirements of Chapter 13 and its rules if the District has not appointed a responsible authority. In addition, there is a new requirement, effective August 1, 2000, that requires the school board to appoint a data practices compliance official by December 1, 2000. The data practices compliance official is to serve as the government employee to whom questions or concerns about data practices issues may be addressed. This new requirement is codified at Minnesota Statutes, section 13.05, subdivision 13. (See Laws for Minnesota 2000, Chapter 468, section 7.) This requirement for the District to have a compliance official is in addition to the requirement that it have a responsible authority. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Kohn is as follows:
Signed:
David F. Fisher
Dated: October 20, 2000 |
Responsible authority
Data Practices Compliance Official (DPCO)
Responsible authority (RA)
Appointment required
