So in the previous posts, I have been explaining the first parts of what NH’s RSA 91-A, the Right To Know Law, covers – definitions, who or what it can be “pointed” to, and what kind of meetings it covers. However, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and I’m going to switch things up a bit given a tip I received last night. I do have to give the tipster a call a bit later on this morning (it’s only 8:30 am as I write this and I know the tipster is a night owl) and provide more of an update but it’s a great example to interwine with this series.
Thus, this is what I sent to the Franklin School District (SAU 18) this morning to the School Board members (emphasis mine):
—— Original Message ——
From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To: tdow@gm.sau18.org; dcarrier@gm.sau18.org; dbrown@gm.sau18.org; ecote@gm.sau18.org; lcass@gm.sau18.org; ccormier@gm.sau18.org; cmartin@gm.sau18.org; pdoucette@gm.sau18.org; maube@gm.sau18.org
Sent: 12/27/2022 8:53:40 AM
Subject: RSA 91A Right To Know demand – the SAU 18 Library Card CatalogGood morning,
Please find attached to this email my Right To Know concerning the District’s card catalog for its libraries. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me
I have reproduced this RSA 91A demand below.
Thank you for your lawful response.
-Skip
Skip Murphy
Founder, co-owner
GraniteGrok.com | Skip@GraniteGrok.com
Dominating the political Bandwidth in New Hampshire
So note what I did:
I sent it, NOT to the Superintendent (a public employee) but to the governing body of the District. In terms of an RSA 91-A dement, the School Board members are the Public Body referenced in RSA 91-A:1-a Definitions:
VI. ” Public body ” means any of the following:…
(d) Any legislative body, governing body, board, commission, committee, agency, or authority of any county, town, municipal corporation, school district, school administrative unit, chartered public school, or other political subdivision, or any committee, subcommittee, or subordinate body thereof, or advisory committee thereto.
After all, the School Board, when you reference other State Statutes, are in charge of EVERYTHING in a School District. Unfortunately, many having not bothered to read such statutes themselves, they get led into the “lull” that they are only responsible for setting budgets and policies and then they simply hand everything off to the “professionals” – in this case, the Superintendent”. Make no mistake, however, THEY are the responsible ones, like it or not and part of this process that I do is to ensure that they know it over the time that it takes to get them to Follow The Law.
I also emailed it to them. One does not have to formally send in a written hardcopy nor does it have to be notarized. Emails are perfectly fine and acceptable form of communication. Now, there will be some Districts that demand that you use a “form email” on one of their website pages. I don’t care for it at all but they make it impossible to know what the School Board members’ email addresses are so you’re stuck in that regard (yet another tactic that School Boards use to not have to interact with the hoi polloi, I guess. It also generally means that the “email” will go to an employee first for “screening”.
I’ve had that done in the past and then find out that one or more of the School Board members who, once again, are supposed to be in charge. In that case, is it “School Board Members In Name Only” as “he who controls the communications controls the entity”?
Here is the Right To Know attached to the email. Although I have yet to go over the relevant parts of RSA 91-A, I have bolded the parts of my demand that directly tie back to the language of RSA 91-A as I prefer to not allow much, if any, “wiggle room”. I’ll talk about THAT bit in subsequent posts. However, it all goes back to what you should have learned in elementary school when writing a story: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
Oh, by the way? They can ask but the Public Body is not entitled to know the “Why” of the demand – and I’m not telling them now. Not yet if I do at all.
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A:4 (I) ), I am demanding access, within 5 business days, to the below enumerated governmental records. Otherwise, if this cannot be fulfilled within that mandated window per RSA 91-A, please advise when the Responsive Records will be made available.
This request is for the Franklin/SAU 18 School District library “card catalog”. This is for any and all books located in the following:
- District-wide “main” library
- Each school within the District’s “main” library
- If a school has multiple “main” libraries (such as Brockton High, Brockton, MA)
- All classrooms with cataloged books that are tracked by the District.
The information for each Responsive Record shall include:
- Name of the book
- Name of the Author(s)
- Content Summary
- ISBN identification (or other such designated ID)
- Name of the School
- If a School has multiple libraries, a designation of which library is being referenced (in the case of Brockton High, the five libraries: Red, Azure/Blue, Green, Yellow, and the Science libraries)
- Name/designation of the Classroom within a School
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, unavailable for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
As you are aware, in 2016, the New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that a governmental body in possession of records is required to produce them in electronic media using standard common file formats: Green v. SAU #55, 168 N.H. 796, 801 (2016). Unless there is some reason that it is not reasonably practical to produce such, explain why it is not practical to comply.
Please also note, per RSA 91-A:4 III, III-a, and III-b, you are required to maintain the safety and accessibility of such responsive records. This also includes such responsive records (e.g., emails) which may have been deleted from respective Inboxes but are still available on the applicable email server or in your / email host backup system(s).
Please let me know when these records will be sent to me for inspection. You may email the responsive records to me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com. If the volume turns out to be substantial, I have already set up a Dropbox folder to use in uploading those responsive records.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Skip Murphy
GraniteGrok.com
So now you have a complete RTK for review and I’ll use it when discussing more of RSA 91-A.
And yes, the “5 business day clock” has already started ticking…
