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Schools forced to divert staff amid historic flood of records requests

Fishking said:
Lol...what goal is that? I'll let you dance on my strings, for my amusement, before I straighten out your hysteria.
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See the previous post, puppetmaster.
 
WorldWatcher said:
In our school system lesson plans and curriculum materials are already posted on line. Parents and advocacy groups are free to download them.

On the other hand if they want personal copies from the school we charge them (which is allowed under FOIA) based on the hourly rate of the person that has to compile the data, and duplicating fees for the copying/printing of the materials.

As to other "internal documents", emails, memos, etc. - Those are available again via FOIA at a fee.

WW
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People often say education isn't a good as it used to be.

If so let's go back to the way we used to do it. Get off of teachers backs. Treat them as caring professionals who can make their own decisions about what to teach and how.

Cut back on the constant testing.

But no......"education is not as good as it used to be.....but we absolutely cannot do it the way we used to do it"
 
I think people are missing the point. Why are public school curriculums, lesson plans, and educational materials so top secret that they require a Freedom Of Information Act request to access?
 
Napoleon said:
I think people are missing the point. Why are public school curriculums, lesson plans, and educational materials so top secret that they require a Freedom Of Information Act request to access?
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Just curious, did teachers when you were a kid publish their lesson plans for the public?

Did they even have lesson plans?
 
Napoleon said:
I think people are missing the point. Why are public school curriculums, lesson plans, and educational materials so top secret that they require a Freedom Of Information Act request to access?
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There was a concerted effort among right-wingers to do the same thing with election offices - flood them with requests for information in order to find loopholes for questioning the results. This is probably a similar effort - not so much in wanting to know what is taught, but wanting to look for things to criticize and create fear and panic among parents about the dreaded and omnipotent left-wing indoctrination. These government agencies generally get occasional requests for information but are not used to these onslaughts generated by groups seeking to undermine their respective missions.
 
BirdinHand said:
Yeah, I just saw on a video of the board meeting what they said they've spent. I am not on the board - so perhaps I'm wrong about what the costs are for, etc. I do know that they've been inundated from a friend of mine that works as an admin at the school and tells me in conversation. It is almost daily that they receive numerous OPRA requests - all from the same group of individuals. At this point, I think the purpose of these people is to be a nuisance, not actually find out actual information.
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In terms of FOIA, we can typically recover costs.

The real problem with nuisance FOIA requests is your can't recover the time the staff has to take putting it together. Time spent doing OPRA/FOIA vs. - you know - doing the job they were hired for.

WW
 
Grandpappy said:
When little Johnny comes home and he tells his parents that he should be ashamed of being Caucasian, parents tent to get mad.
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Correct, they get mad instead of being smart. That is what you call a teachable moment, when the parent engages the kid in conversation on the subject. Except that it appears that these types of parents are undereducated in which case they deserve no say in what their children are being taught.
 
tshade said:
These stupid parents are wasting the 3 greatest resources schools have : TIME, MONEY, EFFORT
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It's not just the parents. It's right-wing groups astroturfing, and basically trying to wreck the public school system, by clogging it up with unreasonable requests.
 
NolanVoyd said:
People often say education isn't a good as it used to be.

If so let's go back to the way we used to do it. Get off of teachers backs. Treat them as caring professionals who can make their own decisions about what to teach and how.

Cut back on the constant testing.

But no......"education is not as good as it used to be.....but we absolutely cannot do it the way we used to do it"
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Working in HR for a school system - and being old school myself.

One of the biggest problems and why there is high teacher turnover is they don't get the discipline support that was there when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's. There days teachers get very little backing from administrators and central office when it comes to discipline in the classroom. Sometimes the school just needs to be able to tell the parents "Johnny is really a little shit and is disrupting the learning environment for the other 24 students in the class. Either fix it or Johnny will be moved to a more behaviorally appropriate alternative learning class."

WW
 
j brown's body said:
There was a concerted effort among right-wingers to do the same thing with election offices - flood them with requests for information in order to find loopholes for questioning the results. This is probably a similar effort - not so much in wanting to know what is taught, but wanting to look for things to criticize and create fear and panic among parents about the dreaded and omnipotent left-wing indoctrination. These government agencies generally get occasional requests for information but are not used to these onslaughts generated by groups seeking to undermine their respective missions.
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The schools brought this on themselves by refusing to be transparent.
 
WorldWatcher said:
In terms of FOIA, we can typically recover costs.

The real problem with nuisance FOIA requests is your can't recover the time the staff has to take putting it together. Time spent doing OPRA/FOIA vs. - you know - doing the job they were hired for.

WW
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They don't care.

They don't care that they're making it harder for already understaffed schools. They're selfish and they WANT to make lives difficult.
 
Argent said:
Correct, they get mad instead of being smart. That is what you call a teachable moment, when the parent engages the kid in conversation on the subject. Except that it appears that these types of parents are undereducated in which case they deserve no say in what their children are being taught.
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And here we see a classic example of the problem.
 
Grandpappy said:
And here we see a classic example of the problem.
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So happy to see that you acknowledge the impact of bad parenting on a child's learning.
 
Again--most curriculum is already posted online. These are the ones for 2 districts near me:

Curriculum | Mount Vernon Schools

www.mountvernonschools.org www.mountvernonschools.org

www.everettpublicschools.org

Curriculum and Instruction

Everett Public School District is located in Everett, MA.
www.everettpublicschools.org www.everettpublicschools.org

This is the school district curriculum for Trump:

Elementary, Middle and High School Subject Areas - Palm Beach County School District

Elementary, Middle and High School Subject Areas - Palm Beach County School District
www.palmbeachschools.org www.palmbeachschools.org

This is the school district curriculum for Biden:

This is the school district for Tucker Carlson:
islandschoolbocagrande.com

Curriculum Activities - The Island School

The Island School provides an innovative environment which enriches the lives of its children, parents and community. Learn more.
islandschoolbocagrande.com islandschoolbocagrande.com

You can see what's being taught down the street from you so I'm not sure why they need to request anything from the school district at all. Unless it has nothing at all to do with what is being taught.
 
This is just in Virginia:

www.loudounnow.com

Loudoun County School Division Flooded with Over 500 FOIA Requests

Earlier this year, conservative activists swarmed Loudoun County School Board meetings to protest an array of policies.
www.loudounnow.com www.loudounnow.com
"More than 500 VFOIA requests have been filed with the school division so far this year, compared to an average of about 90 annually between 2012 and 2018. About 40 percent of them have been filed by a half-dozen individuals who are members of or allied with Fight for Schools, which has led efforts to recall members of the School Board over the policies they have protested."

and in:

"Rochester, Michigan, public school system received a 41-page record request for emails based on keyword searches — all documents related to “curricula with a sociological or cultural theme,” teacher attendance at conferences and seminars, and text messages made on school-owned cell phones. The school system estimated the cost to fulfill this request would be $900K."
www.justfoia.com

Top Three Reasons School Districts Face Increasing Information Requests

Why are school districts seeing more requests over the past year? Learn more.
www.justfoia.com
 
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