Del Mar School District Delays Salary Information

Source: CalAware Today

By Anne Lowe

The Del Mar Union School District refused to release salary information for all its employees in response to a Public Records Act request for weeks, the Del Mar Times reportsuntil repeatedly threatened with litigation.

NakedGovernment.org co-founder Michael Robertson requested names, titles and salaries for employees of 50 school districts across the nation. The Del Mar district refused to cooperate fully with the request, stating that it would not disclose salary information for employees making less than $100,000 per yearto protect their privacy rights.

Del Mar finally complied with the request this week when threatened with legal action, after three weeks of resistance.

Scott Mann, DMUSDs assistant superintendent for business services, initially provided only the names, titles and salaries of all employees earning more than $100,000 annually, along with the certificated and classified salary schedules.

Parres objected and wrote to Mann, saying, The documents you provided are general in nature. Other school districts I have contacted provided specific listings as requested with no hesitation. He provided the response from the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado as an example.

Mann wrote back, saying, First of all, lets be clear. I am not rejecting your request as I have fully complied with it. Case law from the courts has held that total compensation under $100,000 for employees shall not be released because of privacy rights of the individual employee. I have complied with your request under the PRA.

Mann said in a follow-up email, The Del Mar USD considers your request fulfilled.

Saying the Del Mar Union School District does not have the right to decide what requests to honor and to what extent, Robertson wrote to DMUSD superintendent Jim Peabody, explaining the impasse and promising to escalate the situation if DMUSD does not fully respond to the multiple Public Records Act requests which have been submitted to Mr. Mann.

After investigating the matter, Peabody wrote back to Robertson, saying, I have asked Scott Mann to produce the title and salary of all employees for you.

This time the DMUSD sent the titles and salaries of each employee, but with the names redacted. Robertson criticized Del Mars reluctance to provide the complete data. He said the Los Angeles Unified School District and the San Diego Unified School District were both asked for the same information, and both cooperated fully with the request, as did most of the 50 school districts that were also asked.

Our request to you was straightforward and unquestionably allowed by law, wrote Robertson to Peabody. I am quite puzzled at the delays and nonresponsiveness by your DMUSD staff to this request.

Robertson told Peabody that he will not stand by and let DMUSD ignore the law and will file a lawsuit to force DMUSD to comply with the laws of our state.

The initial request was made to Del Mar on Oct. 8. On Oct. 28, Robertson received an email letter from attorney Susan Gilmor, of the law firm of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, writing on behalf of the DMUSD. Gilmor defended the districts decision to withhold the information.

We have reviewed the recent cases regarding public disclosure of public employee salaries, which are specific to employees earning $100,000 a year or more, Gilmor wrote. You have asserted your position that you are entitled to all employee names and salaries. Please tell us what case you are relying upon that specifies that employees earning less than $100,000 a year are not exempt from public disclosure by name.

She said the districts position is not to engage in a fight with you. We have a constitutional duty [to] ensure that we do not invade privacy rights. While we understand that the public has a strong interest in monitoring public expenditures, it [is] our duty to follow the law. It is our position that the courts have not ruled that the names and salaries of public employees earning less than $100,000 a year would be subject to disclosure.

Robertson challenged Gilmors interpretation of the $100,000 threshold. Theres no exclusion for [an] employees salary under $100,000, he wrote to her. Citizens do not have a duty to justify why a request is warranted. Rather DMUSD is obligated to follow the law and provide public records. The party seeking to withhold public records bears the burden of demonstrating that an exception applies.

There is nothing in the law or ruling to suggest government employees with $99,999.99 salaries are entitled to a different or greater right of privacy than someone making $100,000 per year or more, he added.

Robertson again threatened legal action if the request was not honored. If DMUSD[s] intention is to use the same privacy excuse to shirk their legally required duties which the courts at the highest level in our state have rejected then they will lose that case and squander taxpayers money, he wrote. DMUSD does not get to decide what is good for people to know.

Robertson said schools commonly complain about not having enough money, but when a citizen places a request to see where the money is going they are stonewalled.

Terry Francke, First Amendment rights attorney and founder of Californians Aware, said Robertsons legal case was strong.

The California Supreme Court decision concluding that public employees salaries are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act stemmed from a request for the salaries of Oakland city employees earning $100,000 or more, he said in an email. But the court neither expressly nor impliedly limited its public disclosure ruling to salaries in that amount, and almost no public agencies are interpreting it that way.

If sued, Im confident this district would lose, and have to pay the requesters attorney fees.

CalAware is a nonprofit organization specializing in helping the public understand Californias open-meeting Ralph M. Brown Act, the Public Records Act, First Amendment rights and open-access government issues.

Robertson had his attorney contact Gilmor directly and asked him to explain to her that I understand the law and Im intent on making this happen and theres just better things for the school district to worry about.

After speaking with Robertsons attorney, Gilmor wrote the following email to Robertson: Thank you for your response and patience. As I mentioned, my concern was to ensure that a release of names would not subject the district to claims of violating personal privacy rights. I appreciate your input and the time you allowed so that I could make certain that the statutes and laws were interpreted correctly.

Gilmor said the district has been instructed to provide the requested information, all of which was sent to Robertson by Mann on Nov. 1 with the following note: By direction of the Governing Board, the attached PDF file was prepared for your use under the CPRA and contains all information you previously requested. Peabody later clarified that only board president Steven McDowell rather than the full Board of Education met to discuss this issue.

Del Mar school district’s delays frustrate businessman

Source: Del Mar Times

By Marsha Sutton
Contributor

An online open government project co-founded by Del Mar Internet entrepreneur Michael Robertson hit a speed bump along the information superhighway, when the Del Mar Union School District delayed releasing data requested by Robertson through a formal California Public Records Act request.

Robertson’s NakedGovernment.org site, to be launched later this month, will allow users free access to a wide range of governmental documents, initially beginning with the names, titles and salaries of school district employees from school districts throughout the country.

Robertson and his partner John Parres submitted PRA requests asking 50 school districts to provide this information. Only Del Mar refused to comply fully based on privacy rights, claiming the district was legally obligated to protect the privacy of individual employees earning less than $100,000 annually.

"I find this outrageous and appalling behavior," Robertson said. "There is no right to privacy which allows DMUSD to not respond to our request with the names, titles and salaries of all employees."

Del Mar finally complied with the request this week when threatened with legal action, after three weeks of resistance.

Scott Mann, DMUSD’s assistant superintendent for business services, initially provided only the names, titles and salaries of all employees earning more than $100,000 annually, along with the certificated and classified salary schedules.

Parres objected and wrote to Mann, saying, "The documents you provided are general in nature. Other school districts I have contacted provided specific listings as requested with no hesitation." He provided the response from the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado as an example.

Mann wrote back, saying, "First of all, let’s be clear. I am not ‘rejecting’ your request as I have fully complied with it. Case law from the courts has held that total compensation under $100,000 for employees shall not be released because of privacy rights of the individual employee. I have complied with your request under the PRA."

Mann said in a follow-up email, "The Del Mar USD considers your request fulfilled."

Saying the Del Mar Union School District does not "have the right to decide what requests to honor and to what extent," Robertson wrote to DMUSD superintendent Jim Peabody, explaining the impasse and promising to "escalate the situation if DMUSD does not fully respond to the multiple Public Records Act requests which have been submitted to Mr. Mann."

After investigating the matter, Peabody wrote back to Robertson, saying, "I have asked Scott Mann to produce the title and salary of all employees for you."

This time the DMUSD sent the titles and salaries of each employee, but with the names redacted. Robertson criticized Del Mar’s reluctance to provide the complete data. He said the Los Angeles Unified School District and the San Diego Unified School District were both asked for the same information, and both cooperated fully with the request, as did most of the 50 school districts that were also asked.

"Our request to you was straightforward and unquestionably allowed by law," wrote Robertson to Peabody. "I am quite puzzled at the delays and nonresponsiveness by your DMUSD staff to this request."

Robertson told Peabody that he will not "stand by and let DMUSD ignore the law" and will "file a lawsuit to force DMUSD to comply with the laws of our state."

The initial request was made to Del Mar on Oct. 8. On Oct. 28, Robertson received an email letter from attorney Susan Gilmor, of the law firm of Stutz Artiano Shinoff & Holtz, writing on behalf of the DMUSD. Gilmor defended the district’s decision to withhold the information.

"We have reviewed the recent cases regarding public disclosure of public employee salaries, which are specific to employees earning $100,000 a year or more," Gilmor wrote. "You have asserted your position that you are entitled to all employee names and salaries. Please tell us what case you are relying upon that specifies that employees earning less than $100,000 a year are not exempt from public disclosure by name."

She said the district’s position is "not to engage in a fight with you. We have a constitutional duty [to] ensure that we do not invade privacy rights. While we understand that the public has a strong interest in monitoring public expenditures, it [is] our duty to follow the law. It is our position that the courts have not ruled that the names and salaries of public employees earning less than $100,000 a year would be subject to disclosure."

Robertson challenged Gilmor’s interpretation of the $100,000 threshold. "There’s no exclusion for [an] employee’s salary under $100,000," he wrote to her. "Citizens do not have a duty to justify why a request is warranted. Rather DMUSD is obligated to follow the law and provide public records. The party seeking to withhold public records bears the burden of demonstrating that an exception applies."

"There is nothing in the law or ruling to suggest government employees with $99,999.99 salaries are entitled to a different or greater right of privacy than someone making $100,000 per year or more," he added.

Robertson again threatened legal action if the request was not honored. "If DMUSD[’s] intention is to use the same privacy excuse to shirk their legally required duties which the courts at the highest level in our state have rejected then they will lose that case and squander taxpayers money," he wrote. "DMUSD does not get to decide what is good for people to know."

Robertson said schools "commonly complain about not having enough money, but when a citizen places a request to see where the money is going they are stonewalled."

Terry Francke, First Amendment rights attorney and founder of Californians Aware, said Robertson’s legal case was strong.

"The California Supreme Court decision concluding that public employees’ salaries are subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act stemmed from a request for the salaries of Oakland city employees earning $100,000 or more," he said in an email. "But the court neither expressly nor impliedly limited its public disclosure ruling to salaries in that amount, and almost no public agencies are interpreting it that way.

"If sued, I’m confident this district would lose, and have to pay the requester’s attorney fees."

CalAware is a nonprofit organization specializing in helping the public understand California’s open-meeting Ralph M. Brown Act, the Public Records Act, First Amendment rights and open-access government issues.

Robertson had his attorney contact Gilmor directly and asked him to explain to her "that I understand the law and I’m intent on making this happen and there’s just better things for the school district to worry about."

After speaking with Robertson’s attorney, Gilmor wrote the following email to Robertson: "Thank you for your response and patience. As I mentioned, my concern was to ensure that a release of names would not subject the district to claims of violating personal privacy rights. I appreciate your input and the time you allowed so that I could make certain that the statutes and laws were interpreted correctly."

Gilmor said the district has been instructed to provide the requested information, all of which was sent to Robertson by Mann on Nov. 1 with the following note: "By direction of the Governing Board, the attached PDF file was prepared for your use under the CPRA and contains all information you previously requested." Peabody later clarified that only board president Steven McDowell rather than the full Board of Education met to discuss this issue.

Peabody said he referred the matter to the district’s attorneys, who initially told him that the names of employees earning less than $100,000 per year should not be disclosed.

In agreeing to release the information, he said, "If it’s going to get into a legal squabble, it’s just going to eat up some district resources."

Peabody said he was concerned about the reaction of teachers and was informing union leadership that the names of every employee, their titles and salaries was about to be made public. "I worry that they’ll be upset, but I think they will understand," he said.

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More information:

• John Parre's Public Record Request and DMUSD's Response

Del Mar man helps to launch The Naked Government project

Source: Del Mar Times

By Marsha Sutton
Contributor

NakedGovernment.org is a new project co-founded by Del Mar Internet entrepreneur Michael Robertson that is intended to make government more transparent. In addition to actual documents from governmental agencies, the site will also contain names of individuals and organizations that have made Public Records Act requests for specific documents.

"Every day, there are thousands of public document requests … across the United States," he said. "My belief is all those should be public. For example, who is asking what of the water companies? In a lot of respects, I think that is more interesting than the actual documents. That’s the kind of information that will help citizens better manage, or police if you will, the government that runs their lives."

The concept stems from Robertson’s belief that, once an agency or news organization makes a PRA request and gains access to information, that information should be made available to the public in its raw, unfiltered form.

The site will be Wiki-driven, he said, much like Wikipedia, where users he called "information envoys" will find those document requests and contribute documents and information directly to the site.

"I’m creating a Wiki-powered service where all public records will be searchable by who has made the request [and] what they requested, and you can view the actual documents," he said.

Robertson said he and his partner John Parres didn’t want to launch the site empty, so they requested payroll information of 50 school districts from across the country chosen at random, although the Los Angeles Unified School District and the San Diego Unified School District – as well as Robertson’s hometown Del Mar Union School District – were specifically selected.

"We’re collecting some documents now so there will be some critical mass in the system, so hopefully others will get the vision and help with the task," he said.

Robertson said the DMUSD was not the only district to refuse their request, but was the only district to refuse based on privacy rights.

"I understand where they’re coming from," he said. "They don’t want to get sued by the teachers’ union. That’s the interest they’re trying to balance."

But he believes the law is on his side and governmental organizations "need to understand that it’s the citizens’ money here." Some do, he said, and some don’t.

"We have had a couple people say no," he said. "We’ve had a couple of school districts say, astonishingly, we don’t have that information. It’s preposterous. … Others have said you’ll have to pay to get that information."

Robertson said reasonable costs associated with Public Records requests are fair but that some districts are suggesting that assembling the requested data will require many hours of programming time, adding up to expenses that Robertson called "outrageous."

"So we are putting pressure on them to comply," he said. "When we get pushed back, we’re trying to be polite but firm and encourage the organization to do the right thing."

He said the reason NakedGovernment.org is needed is because not everyone is forthcoming. "There’s some people involved in this process that think the government doesn’t work for its citizens," he said.

Del Mar’s initial noncompliance particularly frustrated Robertson.

"I’m a taxpayer in Del Mar; I’ve got two kids in the Del Mar schools," he said. "That’s why it was so amazing. …The last thing the school district should be spending money on is hiding public information from concerned citizens."

Most districts have been fully cooperative and compliant, he said, including LA Unified which was one of a handful of governmental bodies that was given a more expansive list of information requested for the site.

"We should have hundreds of document requests from LA Unified in the system," he said.

Initially, the site will launch with extensive information from half a dozen institutions including LA Unified, the Port Authority in San Diego and the Dept. of Water in Los Angeles.

"So for a handful of organizations you’re actually going to see what kind of requests they get [and] who is making that request," Robertson said. "And it’s amazingly revealing to see. You see people asking about pension data – these are reporters … Then you’ll see unions coming in and making their own requests. … It’s quite fascinating what is happening, and that’s the kind of information I want to make public."

In addition, there will also be the school district payroll information from almost every state in the union.

Robertson, a Del Mar resident with children attending Del Mar schools, has founded, grown and sold several Internet companies, one of which was MP3.com which was the first company to popularize digital music.

NakedGovernment.org is set to launch later this month.