This is BS. A Michigan parent was trying to get course information on a class called “History of Ethnic and Gender Studies.” The school refused to release it. She sued under the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Teachers exempt from Freedom of Information Act, court rules – experts warn parents should be concerned about public school transparency
Judge Jacob James Cunningham determined on December 15 that public school teachers are exempt from producing school-related documents in response to FOIA requests because they are not considered “public bodies” and, therefore, their documents are not considered “public records.”
Public schools are not “public bodies”? Let’s see what Michigan law actually says about that.
(2) A public body shall exempt from disclosure information that, if released, would prevent the public body from complying with 20 USC 1232g, commonly referred to as the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974. A public body that is a local or intermediate school district or a public school academy shall exempt from disclosure directory information, as defined by 20 USC 1232g, commonly referred to as the family educational rights and privacy act of 1974, requested for the purpose of surveys, marketing, or solicitation, unless that public body determines that the use is consistent with the educational mission of the public body and beneficial to the affected students. A public body that is a local or intermediate school district or a public school academy may take steps to ensure that directory information disclosed under this subsection is not used, rented, or sold for the purpose of surveys, marketing, or solicitation. Before disclosing the directory information, a public body that is a local or intermediate school district or a public school academy may require the requester to execute an affidavit stating that directory information provided under this subsection will not be used, rented, or sold for the purpose of surveys, marketing, or solicitation.
Public schools — as opposed to private schools — specifically are “public bodies” under 15.243 Sec. 13. There are some exemptions; but those relate to students’ personal data, not curriculum material.
So, Judge Jacob James Cunningham, if schools are — as you claim — not public bodies, why does the law make special personal data exemptions for those very schools?
Maybe Cunningham isn’t crooked. Perhaps he’s merely an idiot, ignorant of his state’s law.
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Course materials are definitely NOT covered under FERPA. They may be covered under intellectual property, at least in higher ed, but I don’t think so for K-12.
Elected judges do not have any credential requirements as to legal knowledge (at least where I’ve lived).
Past the tar and feather stage.
I don’t have any law credentials either. But I know how to read.
Snip/
“Maybe Cunningham isn’t crooked. Perhaps he’s merely an idiot, ignorant of his state’s law.”
/snip
As the Blogfather reminds us: Embrace the healing power of ‘AND’!
If nothing else, crookedness and idiocy tend to go together.