9330 - Board/School District Records

Policy 9330

Bylaws of the Board

Board/School District Records

Any recorded data or information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, received or retained by the Board of Education or the school district, whether handwritten, typed, tape recorded, printed, photostated, photographed, or recorded by any other method is by definition a "public record" and access thereto during normal hours of business shall be granted to any citizen. The Board recognizes the need for its records to be stored as a blend of printed, bound and electronically recorded (i.e., audiotapes, videotapes, micro-fiche, computer disk) material. All such records shall be maintained at the office of the Superintendent of Schools, who shall be the custodian of all public records of the district.

Availability of Records

Any person shall receive promptly on request, a plain or certified copy of any public record except those which access is not permitted under law (C.G.S 1-206 to 1-213) a cost not to exceed fifty cents per page. If any copy requested required a printout or transcription, or if any person applies for a printout or transcription of a public record, the fee shall not exceed the cost to the school district. The district will require prepayment of the fee if the fee is estimated to be two dollars or more. There will be no sales tax for this service. There will be no charge if the person requesting the record is an indigent, the record requested is exempt from disclosure, or if, in the judgment of the custodian of records, compliance with the request benefits the general welfare.

An additional charge of one dollar for the first page and fifty cents for each additional page may be made for certification of any records or of any fact within the record.

An individual may use a "hand-held" scanner* to copy a public record. The Board establishes a fee structure not to exceed twenty dollars ($20) for an individual to pay each time the individual copies records at the Board offices with a hand held scanner.

*A hand-held scanner is defined by C.G.S. 1-212(g) as a battery-operated electronic scanning device the use of which (1) leaves no mark or impression on the public record, and (2) does not unreasonably interfere with the operation of the public agency. The Board considers the use of a "smartphone" as analogous to a hand-held scanner and therefore.

The Superintendent, on behalf of the Board of Education, shall notify an employee in writing when a request is made for disclosure of the employee's personnel, medical or similar files, if the Superintendent reasonably believes disclosure would invade the employee's privacy.

Designation of Records Access Officer

1. The Superintendent of Schools will designate a Records Access Officer of the School District, who shall have the duty of coordinating the School District's response to public requests for access to records, in accordance with Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission rules and regulations.
2. The Records Access Officer is responsible for assuring that District personnel:

a. Assist the requester in identifying requested records, if necessary.
b. Upon locating the records, take one of the following actions:

1. Make records promptly available for inspection; or
2. Deny access to the records in whole or in part and explain the reasons therefore.

c. Upon the request for copies of records:

1. Make a copy available upon payment or offer to pay established fees.

d. Upon request, certify that a transcript is a true copy of the records.
e. Upon failure to locate records, certify that:

1. The District is not the legal custodian for such records.
2. The records of which the District is a custodian cannot be found after diligent search.

Requests for Public Access to Records

Requests for inspection of records shall be made advance to the Records Access Officer.
The Records Access Officer shall respond promptly to a request for records.
A request shall reasonably describe the record or records sought. Whenever possible, a person requesting records shall supply information regarding dates, file designations or other information that may help to describe the records sought.
If the District does not provide or deny access to the record sought within four (4) business days of receipt of a request, the request may be construed as a denial of access that may be appealed in accordance with state statute (C.G.S. 1-206)

Legal Reference: Connecticut General Statutes

1 15 Application for copies of public records.
1-200 Definitions.
1 206 Denial of access to public records or meetings.
1 210 to 1-213 Access to public records. (as amended by PA 02-113)
1-211 Access to computer stored records.
1-212(g) Copies and scanning of public records
1-214 Public contracts as part of public records.
1 225 to 1 240 Meetings of public agencies.
Paulsen v. Superintendent of Schools, Bethel Public Schools, #FIC 2015-663 (June 8, 2016)
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure - 2006 Amendments

Adopted: March 3, 2020