Board Of Education Freedom Of Information Policy

The Board of Education recognizes its responsibility to maintain the public records of this District and to make such records available to residents of Michigan for inspection and reproduction.

The public records of this District include any writing or other means of recording or retaining meaningful content prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the District, its Board, officers, or employees, subject to certain exemptions according to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Any person may make an oral or written request for any public records of the District. The person may inspect, copy, or receive copies of the public record requested. The District shall respond to such requests within five (5) working days after receipt unless otherwise agreed to in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.

An individual may purchase copies of the District’s public records upon payment of a fee. No original public record may be removed from the office in which it is maintained except by a Board officer or employee in the course of the performance of his/her duties. Neither the Board nor its employee’s shall permit the release of the social security number of an employee, student, or other individual except as authorized by law.

The Board authorizes the Superintendent to provide, upon written request, enhanced i.e. immediate access to any public record which the District has stored in an electronic databases and is not confidential or exempt from disclosure by State or Federal statute. Such a record may be provided by means of a computer disk provided by the requestor, electronic mail, or a modem providing the requestor has paid the fee established for such transmission.

Nothing in this policy shall be construed as preventing a Board member from inspecting in the performance of his/her official duties any record of this District, except student records and certain portions of personnel records.

The Superintendent is authorized to dispose of correspondence on a daily basis including those transmitted by means of voice mail or E-mail, providing the message does not alter existing District records.

The Superintendent shall establish administrative guidelines to ensure proper compliance with the intent of this policy and the Freedom of Information Act.

M.C.L.A. 15.231 et seq., 455.81 et seq.

Revised 5/17/00

Revised 5/17/06

CCISD Exterior

FOIA REQUESTS

The District’s public records, as defined under the Freedom of Information Act, are available for public inspection and/or copying in accordance with the following administrative guidelines. Exemptions are specified in M.C.L. 15.243.


The Superintendent is the District Records Officer (DRO) as well as the FOIA Coordinator.


Records shall be made available at the Superintendent’s Office, during the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the exception of the holidays when District schools are closed.

Procedures

The following procedures shall be followed in connection with requests to inspect and secure copies of School District records:

Requests to inspect or secure copies of records shall be submitted to the Superintendent on Form 8310 F1, copies of which are available in the Office of the Superintendent and online at the following link: Public Records Request

Requests can be submitted via email us, via fax to (906)482-1931, or be mailed to the following address:
James D. Rautiola, Superintendent
Copper Country Intermediate School District
809 Hecla Street, Hancock, MI 49930-1212 

  • Requests should be as specific as possible, and should be dated and signed by the requester. If possible, a phone number or email address should also be provided should we need to contact you to clarify the request.

  • The DRO will determine and advise the requestor, within five (5) days, whether the records specified in the request are available for inspection and copying. The request will either be granted, denied (if the information requested is exempt from disclosure or not does not exist), denied in part, or extended up to ten (10) days.

  • If a request is denied by the DRO, the requestor may seek to compel disclosure or make a written appeal of the denial to the Board. Appeals should be sent in writing to the following address:

Board of Education
ATTN: FOIA Appeal
Copper Country Intermediate School District
809 Hecla Street, Hancock, MI 49930-1212

  • The Board shall act on the appeal within ten (10) days following its next regularly scheduled meeting or issue a notice of extension of ten (10) days in which to make the decision.

  • With respect to records which are determined to be available, the DRO will direct the requestor to the place where the requested records may be inspected and will arrange for the preparation and certification of copies upon tender of any required fee. The DRO will establish a time and date for inspection and copying of the requested records.

  • If the request is for enhanced access, the DRO shall make arrangements for the record to be transmitted electronically via the medium selected by the requestor. If transmission is by disk, the requestor is to provide the disk at least forty-eight (48) hours in advance. If the transmission is by E-mail, the requestor must provide the proper address. The DRO shall be responsible for establishing the appropriate fees for enhanced access which must be paid prior to the transmission of the record(s).

  • With respect to records which are determined not to be available or when there needs to be a delay in responding to the request, the DRO will note the reason on Form 8310 F3 Response to Public Records Request and send one (1) copy of the form to the requestor as soon as possible. The District may extend the time for responding to a FOIA request by not more than ten (10) business days.

  • Records may be inspected only at the Office of the Superintendent or at such other place as may be designated by him/her. No record may be removed from such location. A member of the staff must be present throughout the inspection and copying of such record.

  • Requests by mail, fax, or E-mail for copies of available records may be addressed to the DRO, and will be honored upon payment of any required fee, provided the requestor and the record of which a copy is requested are sufficiently identified to make compliance practicable.

  • The District is responsible for providing records of the District but not for providing additional information that may be related to a record but is not part of a record. Nor is the District required to create a record if none is available.

Personnel records are to be considered public records of the District other than those considered to be confidential by law.

Fees

Upon written request, copies of said records shall be provided for a fee which will be no more than the actual cost for the duplication and mailing plus any applicable clerical costs which will be charged at an hourly rate equal to the lowest paid full-time staff member capable of retrieving the information being sought by the requestor (including salary and benefits). The FOIA Coordinator shall be responsible for determining which type of public records requests could require a fee payment for search, examination, review, deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information in the record, because the cost would create unreasonably high costs to the District. In such instances, the requestor is to be informed, in advance, of the special fees and the reasons thereof.

  • Charges for copies of District records which are readily copied on District copying machines shall be at the established rate of ten (10) cents per page.

  • Records which require special treatment shall be handled on a “cost” basis as determined.

  • If the fee will exceed $50, the FOIA Coordinator may request a good faith deposit of one-half of the estimated fee prior to copying and may request payment in full before releasing the records.

  • A fee will not be charged if the request primarily benefits the general public.

  • The first $20 of the fee will not be charged if the requester provides an affidavit that he or she is indigent or on public assistance.

  • If the material requested is available to the general public on the CCISD’s website, the requester will be informed of its location. If the requester demands paper copies of records available online, fees will be charged in accordance with the above guidelines.


Click here for an itemized breakdown of fees associated with a FOIA request.
Michigan Freedom of Information Act