‘Form of harassment’: York schools grapple with uptick in freedom of information requests – Seacoastonline.com

YORK, Maine Voters will be asked to add tens of thousands of dollars to theschool district's budget toaccommodatea rise in requests for school records and information.

Superintendent Lou Goscinski saidthe York School Department has already received more than twice as many Freedom of Access Act requeststhis school year than it did last year. He said nearly half of all the FOAA requests in York are directly or indirectly related to the district's policies on equity, diversity and inclusion.

So far in the 2021-2022 school year, the district had received 24 FOAA requests, as of Friday, Feb. 4, Goscinski said.In the 2020-2021 school year, the district received 10 requests, he said.

Before that, the district had received 14 requests in the 2019-2020 school year and 10 requests in the 2018-2019 school year.

Goscinski published a list online late last month of all the FOAA requests the district had received since February 2020.

In the interest of saving staff time and taxpayer money, I made a decision to publicize the list, he said.

Additionally, Goscinski said the cost of labor incurred by administrators responding to FOAA requests is a burdenbecause schools are able to charge only $25 per hour, a standard rate under the Maine law, and the first two hours are free.

Goscinski said another reason he chose to publish the list is becausehe has received duplicateFOAA requests for the same materials he produced for previous requests.

My only motivation to make the list public … is because of the rising costs associated with our budget for addressing the request, he said.

In an October meeting with the York Budget Committee, Goscinski saidhe included an additional $38,000 in the Fiscal Year 2023budget proposal to cover new legal fees incurred from handling FOAA requests.

I think we need to be transparent and let the taxpayers know what the true costs are for these types of requests, he said.

That budget proposal will be part of the package York voters will either accept or reject during the annual town meeting and budget referendum in May.

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Goscinski said he believes, based on conversations he has had with other superintendents during the York County Superintendents Association weekly meeting, thatYork schools have received more FOAA requests in recent years than haveother nearby districts, regardless of the size.

Jeremy Ray, the superintendent for Biddeford, Dayton and Saco schools who also serves as a member of theMaine Schools Superintendent AssociationExecutive Committee saidthe York School Departmentseems to be experiencing a higher volume of requests than most other districts in York County.

That said, Ray said he's also seeing an uptick in requests across York County and that it has contributed to a feeling of burnout amongschool administrators.

"It's such a difficult area for a superintendent because there's so much of making sure you dot every I and cross every T as you respond to those in the right timeline," Ray said."This is also coming at a point in time where superintendents are chief medical officer ... as these pieces ramp up for us, it just becomes more and more difficult."

Within his own district, Ray said the bulk of requests he's received are usually related to Critical Race Theory and curriculum.

Although people are completely within their rights to file FOAA requests for informationthey deem important, Ray urged community members to practice empathy towardschool officials.

"I think it's important for people to realize that school officials are your neighbors, your friends in the community. ... I think it's just important to realize that everyone's working their hardest to support kids and support teachers," Ray said. "The stressors in a normal time are tough."

"I think you can look at national trends of where educators are feeling and what educators are feeling right now ... at the end of the day it forces some really good people out of the profession, and that's what's sad about it," he said.

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Goscinski believes requests related to thedistrict's policies on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), in some cases,are likely being usedto hinder and distract the work of school officials.

"It takes away from my ability to do other work. And we've got to comply with the law,"Goscinski said in interview late last year. "Some of the FOAA requests are nuisance requests. It's a form of harassment."

Goscinski said thecurrent debates in York overEDI, anti-bias training, COVID-19 restrictions, curriculum and school library materials are all a microcosm of a larger movement in towns and citiesnationwide.

"I believe there's a concerted effort across the country to do this in schools," he said.

Without naming any particular group, Goscinski said the language he is seeing in some FOAA requests seems to mimiclanguage provided by conservative organizations.

Some groups provide toolkits that instruct people to inundateschools with public records requests and complaints of discrimination. One example is conservative think thank, The Manhattan Institute, which last year published "Woke Schooling: A Toolkit For Concerned Parents."

Conservative groups aren't alone in using FOAA requests to put pressure on government officials. Left-leaning groups andprofessional journalism associations provideFOAA guidance to their constituents as well.

Most of the 38 requests that the York School Department has received since February 2020 were filed byjust a handful of repeat requesters, according to the log Goscinski published online. Fivepeople filed three FOAA requests apiece: York Weekly reporter Camille Fine and York residents Donald LeFante, Radka Meader, Cheryl Neiverth and Nina Wright.

The most prolific FOAA requester on the list isYork resident Julie Edminster, who has filed 11 requests to the school department in the past two years.

Edminster's requests range from information on COVID student vaccination rates to pandemic protocols, information about the district's upcoming curriculum equity audit anda list of books that the administration has removed from and added to the curriculum.

Edminster declined to comment.

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When the FOAA documents were made public, some community members questioned whether York schools should allow people to visit and observe classrooms, which was something two community members had requested.

LeFante submitted a request in January to visit York Middle School while class is in session. LeFante also asked for all required social studies and English reading and materials which may have been recommended or suggested at the middle school this school year.

Goscinski said LeFante is not a parent of a student attendingYork,according to school records. Goscinski said the school department doesn't maintain every document or worksheet a teacher hands out.

LeFante submitted an additional request in Januaryto meet with YMS Principal Barbara Maling, visit the building and speak about the books being used for education in history and social studies and any curriculum enhancements exercised by teachers.

Goscinski said he wants to assure parents and guardians that hes not letting just anyone into the schools. The school principal and superintendent havea discussion to determine who can enter the building and make the decisionon a case-by-case basis, he said.

We don't allow people randomly to come in and randomly go to classes," he said. "It's just disruptive. It's not fair to the students, or the staff members involved in the educational setting."

Goscinski said he will not fulfill any portion of Lefante's FOAA requestsuntil a $200 feeis paid for the time it will take to collect all the educational materials that LeFante has requested.

LeFante did not respondto requests for comment.

Goscinski said schools have a process for parents to request to observe their student in the classroom. There has to be a reason why the parent would want to come in and observe, he said. There's a set time, it's pre-arranged, and the person can't record audio or video in order to protect the privacy rights of other students.

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'Form of harassment': York schools grapple with uptick in freedom of information requests - Seacoastonline.com