WHERE DOES THE KLAN

FIND THESE “HOUSE ?” NEGROES

AUGUST 12, 2015

LETTER FROM: DORIAN E. TURNER – Attorney For

Claiborne County School District

NOTE: In the 08/12/15 letter, NOTE the FOOLISH GAMES the

Claiborne County School District’s Attorney is ALREADY trying to play in mentioning “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION;” and STEERING CLEAR of the concerns raised in the JULY 31, 2015 and AUGUST 6,

FAX to Dr. Earl Watkins (Conservator, Claiborne County Public 2015, School District)!

Dor ian E. Turner, PLLC Attorney at Low

300 West Capitol Street, Suite 200 iQCkson, MS 39203

August 12, 2015

Vogel Denise Newsome P.O. Box 31265 Jackson, MS 39286

Re: Request for Information

Dear Ms. Newsome,

Following up on your telephone conversations with my paralegal, N i k k i Strong, enclosed are copies of Mississippi Code Sections 25-61-5 and 25-61-7, along with Claiborne County School District's Policy K L , Access to Public Records. These laws and this policy govern and explain your rights to access, inspect and copy district documents and infomiation, the district's obligations to comply with your requests, along with fees and expenses that may be charged and collected. In compliance with their provisions and upon payment of the appropriate fees or expenses, the district w i l l make public records in its possession available to you for inspection, at a mutually agreeable date and time, or provide copies.

I f you cannot specif^' the actual docuraent(s) you are seeking or i f a search must be made for the documents or information you request, a district employee wi l l conduct the search and you must pay, in advance, a search fee v^-hich wi l l be calculated and billed at the hourly rate of the employee conducting the search, with a minimum deposit of $30.00.

I f you wish to proceed with your request for information and you are wil l ing to pay the appropriate fees or expenses, please advise us of your specific request(s) and we wi l l notify you of the amount required to proceed.

Sincerely,

Dorian E. Turner Dorian E. Turner, PLLC Attorney for Claiborne County School District

DET/mis

c: Dr. Earl Watkins. Conservator

Phone 601,354.2971 • Fox 601.354.3656 • deturnef@detpllccom

ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS - K L

CLAIBORNE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS

PROCEDURES

The following policies and procedures are adopted in order to comply with the requirements of the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983 (hereinafter the "Act").

RECORDS ACCESSIBLE *

All "public records" maintained by the district, as defined by the Act, shall be made available for access and duplication, subject to the exceptions and requirements of those policies, and other state or federal laws.

REQUESTS FOR ACCESS

Requests for access to public records shall be filed in writing, on forms provided, with the Superintendent of Schools, Claiborne County Public School District. The request must state with sufficient specificity the nature, location, aiid description of the public record sought in order to enable the appropriate official(s) of the district to obtain the records for review and/or duplication. In the evetit that the request lacks sufficient clarity or is otherwise unduly burdensome, it will be returned to the originator for clarification or correction. All requests to inspect or duplicate public records must be filed between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 3:00 P.M. on any working day in the Superintendent's Office. Requests for inspection and/or dupUcation of records shall be honored at such time during the day as the documents are not being used by the appropriate officials of the district. After the. records are located and made available for inspection and/or duplication, the originator of the request wiU be notified of a time, place and date, not later than fourteen (14) days fi-om the date of the receipt of the request, to allow inspection and/or dupUcation.

FEE CHARGED

As allowed by statute, the district shall charge and collect fees to reimburse it for the actual costs of searching, reviewing, duphcating and mailing copies of public records. All appUcable charges shall be paid to the district in advance of complying with any requests, pursuant to the following schedule:

Photocopying: $.50 per page, with a minimum of S2.00 per search.

Searching and Reviewing: An hourly charge in an amount which eqtials the actual wage per hour of the person conducting the search and review will be chsrged.

Postage: Actual cost of postage shall be assessed for all records mailed.

Any request which will require considerable assistance of school personnel for searching and reviewing shall be subject to the minimum deposit of S30.00. In the event that the actual cost is found to be less than $30.00, the balance shall be refunded to the originator of the request at the appointed time for the inspection and/or dupUcation.

EXEMPT RECORDS

The foUowing records are exempt fi-om the Act and fi-om this poUcy and shaU not be subject to disclosure, except imder other authority and under appropriate circumstances.

1. Records fiimished to pubUc bodies by third parties which contain trade secrets or confidential, commercial or financial information, as provided in the Act.

2. Records which are confidential or privileged, as provided by constitutional, statutory or case law of this state or of the United States.

3. Records which are developed among judges, judges and their aides, and juries.

4. Personnel records, including but not limited to applications for employment, test questions and answers used in employment examinations, and letters of recommendation.

5. Test questions and answers in the possession of- a public body which are to be used in future academic examinations.

6. Records which represent and constitute the work product of an attorney representing the district, records which are related to Htigation, and communications between the district and the attorney in the course of an attomey/cUent relationship.

7. Records which would disclose information about a person's individual tax payment or status.

8. Records concerning the sale or purchase of property for public purposes prior to the announcement of the purchase or sale where the release of the record would have a detrimental effect on the sale and purchase.

9. All educational records of students and former students, as defmed by other board policies and by the Federal Privacy Act; such exemption shall also apply to letters of recommendation respecting admission to any educational agency or institution.

10. Records that are maintained regarding the process of detection and investigation of unlawful activity, in addition to such records as defined in Section 45-29-1 of the Mississippi Code of 1972.

11. Commercial and financial information of a proprietary nature required to be submitted to the district.

In the event that the district denies a request for access to or copies of public records, the denial will be in writing and contain a statement of the reasons for the denial. The district will maintain a record of all denials for a period of three (3) years.

DENIAL OF ACCESS

SOURCE: Claiborne Coimty School District, Port Gibson, MS.

. LEGAL REF.: MS Code 25-61-1; 37-11-51, et. seq.

CROSS REF.: Policies CN, JR, JRB, and LDDB

DATE APPROVED: July

§ 25-61-5. Public access to records; written explanation required when records cannot be

produced within specif ied t ime; form and retention of denials.

Miss iss ipp i Statutes

Title 25. P U B L I C O F F I C E R S AND E M P L O Y E E S ; P U B L I C R E C O R D S

Chapter 61. P U B L I C A C C E S S T O P U B L I C R E C O R D S

Current through 2015 Regular Session

§ 25-61-5. Publ ic a c c e s s to records; written explanation required when records cannot be

produced within speci f ied time; fornn and retention of denial.s

(1) (a) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 25-61-9 and 25-61-11-, all public records

are hereby declared to be public property, and any person shall have the right t o '

inspect, copy or mechanical ly reproduce or obtain a reproduction of any public

record of a public body in accordance with reasonable written procedures adopted

by the public body concerning the cost, t ime, place and method of access, and

public notice of the procedures shall be given by the public body, or, if a public

. body has not adopted written procedures, the right to inspect, copy or mechanical ly

reproduce or obtain a reproduction of a public record of the public body shall be

provided within one (1) working day after a written request for a public record is

made. No public body shall adopt procedures which will authorize the public body

to produce or deny production of a public record later than seven (7) working days

from the date of the receipt of the request for the production of the record.

(b) If a public body is unable to produce a public record by the seventh working day

after the request is made, the public body must provide a written explanation to the

person making the request stating that the record requested will be produced and

specifying with particularity why the records cannot be produced within the seven-

day period. Unless there is mutual agreement of the parties, in no event shall the

date for the public body's production of the requested records be any later than

fourteen (14) working days f rom the receipt by the public body of the original

request.

(2) If any public record contains material which is not exempted under this chapter, the public

agency shall redact the exempted and make the nonexempted material available for

examination.. Such public agency shall be entit led to charge a reasonable fee for the

redaction of any exempted material, not to exceed the agency's actual cost.

(3) Denial by a public body of a request for access to or copies of public records under this

chapter shall be in writing and shaH contain a statement of the specific exempt ion relied

Cite as Miss. Code § 25-61-5

Source: Laws, 1983, ch. 424, § 3; Laws, 2008, ch. 392, § 2; Laws, 2010, ch. 501, §1 , eff. 7/1/2010.

§ 25-61-7. Fees for costs incident to providing records.

Miss iss ipp i Statutes

Title 25. P U B L I C O F F I C E R S AND E M P L O Y E E S ; P U B L I C R E C O R D S

Chapter 61. P U B L I C A C C E S S T O P U B L I C R E C O R D S

Current through 2015 Regular Session

§ 25-61-7. F e e s for c o s t s incident to providing records

(1) Except as provided in subsect ion (2) of this sect ion, each public body may establish and

collect fees reasonably calculated to reimburse it for, and in no case to exceed, the actual

cost of searching, reviewing and/or duplicating and, if applicable, mail ing copies of public

records. Any staff t ime or contractual services included in actual cost shall be at the pay

scale of the lowest level employee or contractor competent to respond to the request.

Such fees shall be collected by the public body in advance of complying with the request.

(2) A public body may establish a standard fee scale to reimburse it for the costs of creating,

acquir ing and maintaining a geographic information system or mult ipurpose cadastre as

authorized and defined under Section 25-61-1 et seq., or any other electronically

accessible data. Such fees must be reasonalaly related to the costs of creating, acquir ing

and maintaining the geographic information system, mult ipurpose cadastre or other

electronically accessible data, for the data or information contained therein or taken

therefrom and for any records, papers, accounts, maps, photographs, f i lms, cards, tapes,

recordings or other materials, data or information relating-thereto, whether in printed,

digital or other format. In determining the fees or charges under this subsect ion, the public

body may consider the type of information requested, the purpose or purposes for which

the information has been requested and the commercial value of the information.

Cite as Miss. Code § 25-61-7

Source: Laws, 1983, ch. 424, § 4; Laws, 1999, ch. 466, § 2, eff. 7/1/1999.

History. Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 416, HB 928, §1 , eff. 7/1/2014.