Unions Attack CCSD For Releasing Public Information

There’s a public-records subplot to NPRI’s efforts to let CCSD teachers know they can leave the Clark County Education Association from July 1-15.
Almost a month ago, NPRI requested the work e-mail addresses for all teachers in the Clark County School District under NRS 239, Nevada’s public-records law. In part, NRS 239.010 reads:

4. A person may request a copy of a public record in any medium in which the public record is readily available. An officer, employee or agent of a governmental entity who has legal custody or control of a public record shall not refuse to provide a copy of that public record in a readily available medium because the officer, employee or agent has already prepared or would prefer to provide the copy in a different medium.

Basically, we requested the work e-mail addresses of government employees. Information doesn’t get more public than that.
But, as is far too often the case with CCSD, the district hasn’t fulfilled NPRI’s records request. CCSD officials told NPRI they’d respond by June 22, then said they’d respond by July 3 (today) and on June 29 sent us a question about our request. They still haven’t responded. In other words: delay, delay, stall and more delay.
As Sen. Ben Kieckhefer noted on Twitter this morning, “I’m curious as to how law dictates the Gov of NV must turn over actual e-mails but CCSD won’t even provide people’s e-mail addresses.”
So, here we have CCSD not (yet) fulfilling a request for public information.
On Friday, we e-mailed more than 12,000 teachers information on how to leave CCEA, using a partial list of addresses not obtained through CCSD.
Along with attacking NPRI for letting teachers know they have options regarding CCEA membership, the Las Vegas Sun reports that CCEA officials are upset with CCSD for supposedly giving us teacher e-mails and are “conducting their own investigation.”
But CCEA’s not investigating why CCSD is violating state law by not fulfilling NPRI’s records request. CCEA is investigating whether CCSD gave NPRI teacher e-mails, which CCSD did not do, but should have under NRS 239.
In other words, if CCSD officials had given NPRI teachers’ e-mail addresses (which they didn’t), CCSD would just be following state law. Instead, CCSD officials are stalling NPRI’s request, which is what CCEA wants, and CCEA is throwing a fit.
The irony is rich here. And this would be hilarious, except we still don’t have our public records.
So who does CCSD give access to its e-mail system? CCEA and its other employee unions.

Although the district’s four unions representing administrators, police, support staff and teachers are able to use the email system to contact their constituents, outside groups — such as vendors and non-union political groups — are not privy to this e-mail database, Fulkerson said.

Good grief.