FOI Arkansas Project

BENTON — Benton School District Superintendent Diana Julian says a recent controversy over an illegal meeting by the district’s board has made officials more aware of requirements under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, district officials twice required a written request for public documents from participants in the FOIArkansas Project. The FOI Act does not require requests to be put in writing.

As part of a statewide test of compliance with the FOIA on Aug. 23, a surveyor asked to see the superintendent’s contract; he was told the superintendent had it at her home.

The surveyor left a self-addressed, stamped envelope and asked the superintendent’s secretary to mail it to his home; it was postmarked the following day.

On Sept. 14, when a project reporter asked for copies of the district’s current and proposed public speaking policy, they were given to him at no charge — after he put the request in writing.

The reporter also asked for the minutes of a meeting the board conducted by telephone on graduation day in May, but was told that no minutes exist.

The reporter requested minutes of a school board meeting conducted the night before his visit to the office, but that request was denied, too. He was told the minutes had not yet been approved by the school board and were not public.

The FOIA makes no exception for public officials to withhold minutes that have not been approved.