Source: San Diego Union Tribune
Written by: Ashly McGlone
The San Diego Unified School District is seeking to impose a fee on a parent requesting to review the superintendent’s calendar.
Public records law says such documents can be inspected during business hours and a state attorney general’s report says no fee should be charged.
Sally Smith, a parent and vocal critic of the district, is seeking to review Superintendent Bill Kowba’s calendar from January to July 2011 in order to determine whether she wants copies of any pages.
The California Public Records Act states that, "Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be available for inspection by any person requesting the record after deletion of the portions that are exempted by law."
Agencies are allowed to charge for copies of public records. But the open records law "contains no provision for a charge to be imposed in connection with the mere inspection of records," according to a report issued by the California Attorney General’s Office in 2004.
In the case of Kowba’s calendar, school district attorneys said that the calendar is only kept electronically and, in that form, portions can’t be redacted. They say printed copies must be made in order to strike out information exempted from the open records law in order for Smith to review the information.
Smith was told she would have to pay for printing costs "plus clerical time for the actual duplication, at a rate of $20 to $28 per hour," according to an Aug. 1 email from Adel Epley, assistant to the district’s deputy general counsel.
Smith, who contacted The Watchdog about the issue, wrote in response, "I just want to look at it. I can’t be charged for reviewing records."
The school district’s attorneys stand by the anticipated charge, though it was unclear what the total cost would be as of Friday.
Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, said, "The better argument under the law is they can’t charge for that."
In 2009, The San Diego Union-Tribune requested copies of the calendars for various local government leaders, including Terry Grier, then-superintendent of San Diego Unified. That request was fulfilled with no redaction and no fee was charged.
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