School District launches new public records system request software
The Lee County School District had a soft launch of its new public records system request software GovQA Monday with a full implementation expected next month.
Strategic Communication Director Irma Lancaster said the district did extensive research to find a software system to help improve the process of producing requested public records. They purchased the GovQA software in October and have had weekly meetings since with training beginning in January.
The software has a price tag of $18,500 for the first year and $19,500 for the following years.
In addition to the software, the district also made some improvements to the turnaround time for internal staff. There is now a 48-hour time period for initial response, which will include an estimated time to complete the request.
According to the district, once it is determined what department maintains the records requested, an email will be sent to the requestor and a response must be sent back to public records within 48 business hours. If more information, or clarification is needed from the requestor, public records will reach out within 24 business hours.
The goal to fulfill the public records request is 30 to 45 days from the date of payment, or from the initial request if a payment is not required.
Superintendent Dr. Greg Adkins said they wanted to make the process consistent in terms of how they are responding across the different departments of how to fulfill a public records request.
“What we would like to do is implement this system and evaluate whether or not we do need to put additional staff towards the public records department,” he said.
At this point, they want to have an opportunity to evaluate how much time savings is going into this practice before making any recommendations of putting more resources into public records, he said.
“We have made it clear to the division directors, I don’t want to come back to the board and say I need another position. This is a priority to us as an organization and we are going to have to readjust within divisions and the district to be able to respond in a more efficient manner,” Adkins said.
He said evaluations in the department, or division, of what other services may not be fulfilled as quickly will have to be made to prioritize the filling of a record.
Public Records Manager Melissa Mickey said another improvement is now the requester will receive an immediate automated response with a request reference number tied to the response.
Aaron Fredenburg, with GovQA, said individuals also have the option to submit a request anonymously. The system will advise them to check back and look and see if their records are available, or any other communication is available.
If there is a fee for the records, the person still has to pay in cash, or check.
Mickey said they are also in the process of implementing the option of paying online, making the payment easier and faster.
“Any request that requires 15 minutes, or less of work to gather and review is free,” District spokesperson Rob Spicker said in an email. “If the request will take more than 15 minutes, the requestor is charged the hourly rate of the person doing the work. The request is processed once the labor is paid for. Most requests take less than an hour and are fulfilled within 30 days.”
According to the district if a payment is not received within 30 days, the request will be closed. Once the payment is received, if garnered, internal staff is given weekly reminders to complete the request.
Currently if a payment is required, the requester has to pay with check or cash, by either mailing it to the district office, or dropping it off.
The news software, which can be found by going to the district’s website www.leeschools.net under public records, allows an individual to create an account. By creating an account, that individual has the opportunity to manage multiple requests and view the progress of their requests.
“The records can be received online through GovQA” Mickey said.
Mickey explained that there is a queue in order of when the requests are received and the district cannot put one request ahead of another. With that said, she explained it does not mean they fill the requests in a subsequential order.
“Some items are much easier to obtain than others, and some have a labor cost,” she said.
According to Spicker, so far in 2021 they have received 71 public records requests. There were 510 public records requests for 2020.
“We actually keep our log by fiscal year, so in the 2020/2021 fiscal year the total so far is 324. In the 2019/2020 fiscal year the total was 463,” he said of public records requests in an email.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com