School board stalls Journal FOI request

WINSTED — During a regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13, the Board of Education tabled a motion to charge The Winsted Journal atleast $500 for a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for copies of emails related to board business from last November to the present.The FOI request, filed Aug. 9 by The Winsted Journal, came after an interview with resigning Board of Education Chairman Kathleen O’Brien, who stated that the board has been conducting business through electronic messages.In response to the FOI request, on Aug. 17, acting board Chairman Christine Royer requested advance payment for all printed materials.“Advance payment for copying said materials at $.50 per each printed page, $1 double-sided, is required,” Royer wrote in her letter to The Winsted Journal. “An invoice will be forwarded to you as soon as all documents are gathered from the [board] members. Once your payment has been received, the materials will be released.”In response to Royer’s letter, The Winsted Journal requested that all emails from board members pertaining to board business be copied to a CD, as opposed to being printed.Also, The Winsted Journal asked for a public interest waiver — a waiver of any and all fees associated with the work in making copies of the emails.Under the state statute regarding the Freedom of Information Act, a public agency can waive any fees providing that the applicant’s request benefits the general welfare of the public.The Journal also asked to review and inspect any and all emails before agreeing to purchase them.On Aug. 24, board member Susan Hoffnagle responded that board members do not have the software to create CDs.“More importantly, some of the members have spent an enormous amount of time printing out emails,” Hoffnagle wrote in her response. “Most have had to expend their own personal funds to buy ink cartridges and paper. Now that we have boxes of emails to deliver, you have modified your request. We are prepared to comply with your original request and to begin delivery of the paper copies. We are asking for payment in advance since the amount of paper is quite voluminous.”At Monday’s meeting, board members did not act favorably on The Winsted Journal’s request.“The Freedom of Information law does require us to produce this, but it does allow us to collect a fee for copying or for the production of the electronic media,” board member Richard Dutton said.Royer said that, whether the emails were produced on paper or CDs, someone from the district would have to review each one to determine which ones were “clean” and which ones the board’s attorney would have to take a look at.“There is a lot more that goes into this than just stuffing some papers in a bag and handing them over to you,” Royer said. “We are required by law to make the copies and hand them over to you, but we’re not required to waive the fee.”Royer said that, while the district did not send an invoice, it would cost The Winsted Journal at least $500 for the copies of the emails.Board members openly disagreed with language in state law that indicates members of the public are allowed to review electronic information pertaining to school business.Acting Chairman Royer said she had a problem with waiving any fees for the FOI request.“I’m afraid we will set a precedent with this, especially with the magnitude of this and the time it has taken,” Royer said. “To let it go without charge, I’m afraid it opens up a Pandora’s box. This is a huge fishing expedition, which you are entitled to. However, a lot of us on the board are gainfully employed, and the time and effort this will take — some of us have issues with work and requirements of work email that go way beyond the pale. I don’t believe that the [fee] should be waived.”Originally, board member Dutton made a motion that The Winsted Journal be charged $500 for copies of the emails.Board member Paul O’Meara amended the motion to make it $75 an hour to process time plus charges for any and all material.While O’Meara’s amendment passed unaminously, the primary motion itself, to not waive charges to The Winsted Journal for copies of the emails, was tabled.The board members eventually decided that they wanted to consult with their attorney before moving any further with the motion.A special Board of Education meeting to discuss the motion is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17, at 8 a.m. at Town Hall.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less