1101 Oklahoma Open Records Act
The district, as a tax supported institution, recognizes that the public has a right to be fully informed concerning its operations. The district strongly believes that informed citizens are vital to the successful functioning of the democratic process which the district desires to exemplify to its students.
In order to achieve these goals, the Board of Education hereby states that all records of the district, except those designated as confidential in this policy statement, shall be open to any person for inspection, copying and/or mechanical reproduction during regular business hours. All persons requesting the right to inspect non-confidential records of the district shall be accorded prompt access to those records.
The district hereby designates the following records as confidential and not open for public inspection:
A. Records which can be kept confidential under federal or state law.
B. Personnel records which relate to internal personnel investigations, including examination and selection material for employment, hiring, appointment, promotion, demotion, discipline or resignation.
C. Personnel records where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy such as employee evaluations, payroll deductions or employment applications submitted by persons not hired.
D. Bid specifications for competitive bidding prior to publication, contents of sealed bids prior to bid opening, computer programs or software (but not the data thereon), and appraisals relating to the sale or acquisition of real estate prior to the award of a contract if disclosure would give an unfair advantage to competitors or bidders. Proposal submissions, evaluations, evaluation results, and proposal, bid, and quote tabulations and summaries will not be released until after the project has been awarded or closed out if the project is not awarded.
E. Except for the fact that a communication has been received and that it is or is not a complaint, personal communications received from a person exercising rights secured by the Oklahoma or United States Constitution. Any response to such personal communications shall be confidential only to the extent necessary to protect the identity of the person exercising the right.
F. Individual student records, except for:
1. Statistical information not identified with a particular student, if such information is maintained in a composite form.
2. Directory information as defined in the Act if, pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,
(a) that information has been designated by the district as directory information, and (b) parents have been notified of and have not exercised their non-release rights.
G. Teacher lesson plans, tests and other teaching materials.
H. Personal communications concerning individual students.
I. Prior to taking action, including making a recommendation or issuing a report, personal notes and personally created materials of district personnel, excluding departmental budget requests, prepared as an aid to memory or research leading to the adoption of a district policy or district project.
All requests for information may be received between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Requests will not be considered when the offices are closed.
If inspection of documents designated as confidential is denied, the person requesting access to such documents shall have a right to appeal the denial to the Board of Education.
PROCEDURES
In compliance with the Oklahoma Open Records Act, the following administrative procedures are established:
Any request for information should be sent to the Chief Communications Officer at the Education Service Center. The person(s) requesting the information may be required to submit a formal request for such information on forms provided by the district. The formal request form must be completed in all respects.
The district shall charge reasonable fees to recover the costs associated with document copies and searches for documents as permitted by the Act. In that regard, search fees shall be charged in the following circumstances: (1) If the request is solely for a commercial purpose or (2) if the request would clearly cause an excessive or substantial disruption of the essential functions of the district, regardless of who the requesting party is, including but not limited to, news media, scholars, authors, and taxpayers. Search fees will be charged as follows:
A. Time of non-administrative personnel at $20 per hour.
B. Time of administrative personnel at $40 per hour.
Time will be calculated on quarter-hour increments. If a computer query or programming is required, it will be at the rate of $100 per hour.
The following copying costs may also be charged:
A. 8 1/2” x 11” copies at 25 cents per page.
B. 8 1/2” x 14” copies at 25 cents per page.
C. Computer printouts at 50 cents per page.
D. Dubs of audio tapes at $6.00 each.
E. Dubs of video tapes at $15.00 each.
F. Material on disk or electronically provided at $10.00 each. All fees will be collected in advance.
Revised 6/10/96
Revised 12/13/99
Revised 1/13/03
Revised 12/13/04
Revised 1/16/06
Revised 2/12/07
Revised 12/10/07
Revised 12/14/15
Revised 12/11/17
Revised 8//13/18
Revised 12/13/21