A parent in the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District is voicing concerns about how the district handled her FOIA requests.
Kristian St. Clair says the district is asking her to pay about $35,000 for records connected to the arrest of former Bayou Meto Elementary janitor Harold Butchart, who was accused last year of inappropriately touching three young girls.
St. Clair belongs to the JNPSD Parent Action Coalition, a group that has focused heavily on the Butchart case and student safety. She says the district has responded to multiple attempts to obtain records with delays and high fees.
A series of Freedom of Information Act requests is now raising questions about whether the district is complying with state law.
On March 17, the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office took a report from St. Clair regarding her FOIA requests. The district quoted fees totaling $35,000 to provide the records, a practice law professor Robert Steinbuch says is illegal.
“The labor of government employees is to do the work of the public and included in the work of the public is responding to FOIA requests,” said Steinbuch of the UALR Bowen School of Law.
“This law has been around for nearly 60 years and yet this is one of the most basic propositions there is: one cannot charge for labor,” he added.
According to the sheriff’s report, St. Clair submitted a dozen FOIA requests seeking emails between district accounts and electronic surveillance video. Superintendent Dr. Jeremy Owoh cited Arkansas FOIA law in his response and estimated about $30,000 in labor and redaction costs for non-paper materials.
Steinbuch says the district is misapplying the law.
“Arkansas FOIA is quite explicit in that it only permits fees for the actual cost of the paper or the toner, but that’s it, no labor,” he said.
In a separate request, Owoh told St. Clair it would cost an estimated $4,000 to locate, review, and prepare the documents. Steinbuch says that even if the requests are extensive, it is illegal to block access with high fees.
“If this individual sues, instead of being forced to pay this made-up $30,000 sum, she would get the records and her attorneys would get paid for seeking out those records,” Steinbuch said.
St. Clair has also filed a report with the Pulaski County Prosecutor.