Foiled by an FOI request to Greenwich schools

Last year, as now former School Superintendent Jill Gildea was revisiting a decision to change Greenwich High’s hours, a parent who opposed the new, later start time, filed a Freedom of Information Act request, asking for communications between Gildea and a specific school board member who had been a vocal proponent of the later start.

The request is hardly noteworthy or unusual; GPS and the school board field many such FOIA actions every year. What is unusual, however, is that the member targeted by the request, Republican Peter Sherr, says he was never notified of it.

Sherr is the longestserving member of the school board, having won his third term in 2017. “Neither the superintendent nor the board chair ever told me about the FOI request,” the North Mianus Republican said. Sherr said he learned of the request during a conversation with Phil Dunn, the GPS chief information officer, who recently left the town’s employ. “He told me had given my emails to Jill. When I told him I did not know what he was talking about, he said, ‘I assumed you knew.’”

“That puts the (school board) member in a bad spot,” said Tom Hennick, public education officer of the Connecticut Freedom of Information Committee,

when told about the incident. “It is not a violation of the act, per se, but it makes it very hard for the commission to trust that the request was properly fulfilled. In the end, all the commission cares about is that all the records that should be made available, are made available. It would be tough to feel confident in the response if the person who had all the records was not notified.”

Sherr added that “over the years, any number of attorneys have told all board members that it is our responsibility and obligation to keep all communications, be they emails, texts, whatever. And, we have to be able to produce them on demand.” Sherr said he was never asked to produce anything. “That means the superintendent and the board leadership never contacted me.”

Gildea left town at the end of last month. Earlier this year, GPS director of communications, Kim Eves, told me that the superintendent’s office directly handles all FOI questions. I asked School Board Chairman Peter Bernstein about Sherr’s remarks and asked to explain board FOIA response policy.

“FOI requests are handled by the administration and all board members are supposed to use district emails so the administration can easily respond to those requests in a timely manner,” Bernstein responded. “While there is no requirement to do so, through updates, the superintendent informs all board members about pending FOI requests.”

In the highly improbable event that the FOI request specified emails only sent or received through Sherr’s official school board mailbox, it is possible that the system administrator made a full disclosure. However, virtually every public official in town receives emails from residents on their personal email accounts. I sincerely hope the GPS computer network administrator cannot get access to

But as happens in many regulated industries, those regulated have learned how to subvert the regulation’s intention; the FOIA is often cited as the reason to keep things secret, as if the FOI law mandates governmental privacy.

any private mailboxes without the owner’s consent.

Connecticut passed its FOI law in the late 1970s, when many other states were enacting similar legislation. The acts are often referred to as Sunshine Laws, and are designed to encourage and promote a free, transparent flow of information between government and voters/residents. But as happens in many regulated industries, those regulated have learned how to subvert the regulation’s intention; the FOIA is often cited as the reason to keep things secret, as if the FOI law mandates governmental privacy.

Ultimately, it is up to public officials to decide whether the public’s right and need to know outweighs any gains from keeping secrets. It is not surprising that elected officials want to keep politically difficult conversations out of public view. It is legal, but it is not right, and certainly was not the intent of Connecticut’s sunshine law.

Public meetings held behind closed doors in so-called executive sessions are just one way the FOIA intention is stymied. Another ploy used to keep a lid on public information is to put an outrageous price tag on the asked for information.

For example, in reporting about Gildea’s decision to take a job in Park City, Utah, less than a year into a three-year contract with Greenwich, I asked GPS and the BOE for copies of Gildea’s daily calendar, travel schedule, and expense reports from her first day on the job on July 1, 2017. In that same request, I asked for emails between Gildea and the recruiting firm who introduced her to Park City. Finally, I asked for all Bernstein’s emails since he was made chairman.

The GPS/BOE response claimed that 8,000 emails addressed my request, many of which required staff review and redaction of names and other information. The BOE wanted to charge me 50 cents per page and for the staff time used to redact private information.

Another tactic is to just wait out the request and hope the person loses interest. I asked First Selectman Peter Tesei and Town Administrator Benjamin Branyan five months ago for emails and other communications about the parking services division and how Electra Reed, the daughter of the late Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed, received a town commuter parking permit without spending a day on the waiting list.

In all this time, I have received one email, even though Town Attorney John Wayne Fox wrote me that he had advised Branyan to respond as he discovered relevant material, and not wait until it was all collected. Well, I am still waiting. And I have not forgotten.