The legislature has been in the news recently for the first public records work session in response to last session’s debacle surrounding SB 6617 (legislative public records). For a good recap of where things stand, see this thread by Seattle Times Editorial Writer Melissa Santos. While lawmakers try to get their sea legs concerning the people’s right to know, some local governments are still in need of public records training. I say this after receiving thousands of emails (4.3 gigabytes) in response to what I thought was a simple records request. Nearly all of the records I received are not responsive to what I requested. 

Among the records I received from the Tukwila School District:

• Emails with fantastic ads for buy 1 get 1 free children’s clothing;
   
• An invitation to a really cool baby shower;
   
• An invitation to "Applebee’s $1 margaritas Happy Hour!"; and
   
• An invitation to a "Disney in schools" meeting (perhaps fitting since the records response forced me down a rabbit hole).

I also received several records I shouldn’t have including:

• The pass code to access an employee’s WEA benefits page;
   
• A list of restraining orders against parents; and
   
• Student medical info.

I promptly deleted those records.

What exactly did I request? In May of this year, I asked the Tukwila School District for a copy of all records relating to District Resolution No. 855 (contract transparency) between the dates of July 13, 2017 and March 1, 2018.

That resolution adopted in 2017 to require open contract talks with the teachers union was surprisingly rescinded in February of this year before being utilized. On a side note, Tukwila was one of the school districts that faced an illegal teacher strike this year. Perhaps transparent contract talks could have avoided that.  

Though the majority of the emails I received from the school district were not responsive to my records request, there were a few that addressed it. Among them:

• An email between school board members about the draft press release announcing the repeal of the resolution saying: “If you want to be involved in press releases by the district, then we should probably assign you to be involved in the group that writes them. Generally I think the Board as a whole should not be involved in press releases because it would be too cumbersome. If more than one Board Member wants to review all the press releases, then that would require Special Meetings for every press release. We have to be careful about not having group discussions on email.”
   
• Another board email discussing the draft press release saying: “I was just comparing it to the press release that accompanied 855 in July and that release was a fuller, more rounded out explanation of the board's actions. To rescind a resolution is almost a bigger deal that passing one, and I hoped our press release would outline more of our thought process. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of this. I was just struck by the difference between the two documents.”
   
• A constituent email to the board saying: “Members of the Tukwila School Board, For the sake of transparency and ethics, I would urge the school board to let Resolution No. 855 stand as is. Do not close the door on matters which are of concern to teachers, students, parents and taxpayers. Please do not repeal this decision.”
   
• Another constituent email saying: “I support keeping Resolution No. 855 in place for transparency to the public of how our tax dollars are being spent. Please do not repeal this resolution.”
   
• A newsletter from the Superintendent saying in-part: “The Board of Directors has repealed a resolution originally passed in July 2017 that would have conducted collective bargaining in public. The original resolution would have made Tukwila the second district in Washington state to conduct open public bargaining, a highly unusual practice. Since passage of the resolution, the district has heard significant feedback, new Board members have been elected, and a new Superintendent appointed.”

Judging from the fact only two emails from the public addressing the open contract resolution were provided by the district in response to my records request, and both of them encouraged the district to keep the transparent talks, the “significant feedback” the district heard must have been via phone calls or in-person.

What is clear from this records request experience is that lawmakers aren’t the only ones in need of a refresher course on how public records responses should work.