FOIA Coordinator by Edward Vielmetti

FOIA is not a channel for your anger

Parents in the Ann Arbor Public Schools were told by the superintendant that if they wanted detailed answers to the questions they had about school policy and budget changes that they should file FOIA requests. This did not go over well, and now some parents are angry not just at the changes proposed but also that they have to go through a layer of bureaucracy to get more information in time to have informed responses for budget deadlines.

FOIA is not a good channel for your anger. If you are presented with a request or a requirement to fill out a form to get the information you want, it's better to be careful and edit out your irritation from the actual request. Be straightforward in asking for the records that you know to exist, and take that first paragraph where you are upset that you have to go through the process and delete it before it's sent.

More: Audience demands answers from Ann Arbor school administration (AnnArbor.com) ; AAPS Budget and FOIA: Transparency, where art thou? (Ann Arbor Schools Musings)

Government relationship management and the FOIA process

Some brief thoughts, on the subject of this week's FOIAchat which is discussing the journalism (and J school) phenomenon of the "mass FOIA" or "FOIA audit", where a single request is broadcast to a myriad of organizations in the attempt to get a widespread response or to assess compliance.

The observation is that successful FOIA efforts are about building relationships with FOIA officers and clerks, and that a confrontative mass mailing campaign is not the way to necessarily build goodwill. The courteous approach would first attempt to establish personal communications outside of the FOIA process with each point of contact, and only then send the written correspondence.

Is being nice necessary? Of course not. But it may speed the process tremendously and get you out of the realm of confrontation - even if the requests are inherently contentous. You and the clerk both have incentives to play well together, especially if your requests are repeated, and the less friction in the relationship the faster everything happens.