I arrived at the Folsom Cordova Unified School District office at about 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 24, 2009. A blonde receptionist named Tanya greeted me at the front desk. She was friendly and asked me if I needed any help. I explained to her that I was looking for a copy of the Form 700; she called a supervisor that was in the building somewhere else. The supervisor (a woman whose name I forget) told her to tell me to visit a webpage. Tanya wrote down the address for me and was polite when I asked what her name was and did not seem suspicious or wary of me for it. I remember looking around for any obvious Form 700 or public records information and did not see any at all in the small portable building. It’s unfortunate that I lost the piece of paper with the supervisor’s name and the website address on it, I believe that my boyfriend threw it out thinking it was a piece of scrap paper. Tanya told me that her supervisor said to call her if I had any problems with the website during my search. Her supervisor did no say that I couldn’t have access to the records, but she also did not lead me to them as efficiently and effectively as is expected. My written request received a very different response, however, which the document I received spoke entirely for itself.

CalAware Reaction (Terry Francke, General Counsel):

The district office staff mistakenly believed that the Form 700s were on a website somewhere and did not appear to realize that the district was required to keep them on file in paper form for public review; consequently no effort was made to fulfill the auditor’s request for copies. The district’s law firm provided a prompt acknowledgment of having received the written request for other information and said a search was being done for those records. Otherwise it simply listed exemptions from disclosure under the California Public Records Act which it might or would apply to some of the requested information, including records of personnel discipline and student expulsion. But other than this communication, no determination letter or even an announcement of extension had been provided 25 days after the request.

Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected].