Sumner County Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

13 Nov, 2015

Judge rules Sumner County Schools violated public records law, orders it to stop

By Deborah Fisher|2015-11-16T07:35:58-06:00November 13, 2015|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee|Tags: Jeremy Johnson, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Kirk Clements, litigation, public records request, Sumner County, Sumner County School Board, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

GALLATIN -- Nearly 20 months after citizen Ken Jakes requested to see the Sumner County Schools public records policy, Sumner County Judge Dee Gay ruled today that the school district violated Tennessee Public Records law by withholding it. He ordered the district to stop its practices and adopt a new policy for dealing with public records requests. Seated left to right: Citizen Ken Jakes, Sumner Schools attorney Jim Fuqua, school communications official Jeremy Johnson and attorney Todd Presnell listen to the judge's ruling that the school district violated the Tennessee Public Records Act. The school's attorney asked for a 30-day stay on the judge's order, which Gay granted, [...]

31 Jul, 2015

Judge says Sumner County Schools denied public records request, but not willful

By Deborah Fisher|2018-11-16T15:14:58-06:00July 31, 2015|Categories: public records lawsuits Tennessee, requests|Tags: attorneys' fees, Jeremy Johnson, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, litigation, public records request, Sumner County, Sumner County School Board, Todd Presnell|0 Comments

Sumner County Judge Dee David Gay said Thursday in preliminary findings that Sumner County Schools denied a public records request from open government advocate Ken Jakes, but that he heard no proof that showed the district was willful in its actions. Gay said he would make a final ruling in November on whether the school district violated the Tennessee Public Records Act when it denied Jakes' request on the basis that he did not follow the local district's requirement that he make the request in person or through the U.S. Postal Service. Jakes had emailed his request, following up with a voice mail, asking in March 2014 to inspect the [...]

29 Jul, 2015

Public records practices of Sumner County Schools under scrutiny at trial

By Deborah Fisher|2015-07-30T05:27:34-05:00July 29, 2015|Categories: requests|Tags: Jeremy Johnson, Jim Fuqua, Judge Dee David Gay, Ken Jakes, Kirk Clements, public records request, Sumner County, Sumner County School Board, Todd Presnell|1 Comment

Ken Jakes, an open government advocate and a candidate for an at-large council position on Nashville’s Metro Council, is expected to testify Thursday morning in a public records lawsuit he brought against Sumner County Schools. Jakes sued after making a request in March 2014 to inspect the school district’s public records policy. District officials say his request, though they received it, was not valid because he sent it by email. Jakes also followed up with a phone call and left a voice mail. At issue is whether Sumner County Schools officials can refuse to respond to a public records request if it is received by email. The district’s policy at [...]

30 Jun, 2015

Public hearings, survey to gather citizen, government input on public records fee proposal

By Deborah Fisher|2015-06-30T16:03:41-05:00June 30, 2015|Categories: fees|Tags: Advisory Committee on Open Government, Ann Butterworth, Blake Farmer, David Moore, Dick Williams, Don Long, fees for public records, Janet Kleinfelter, Lucian Pera, Robb Harvey, State Rep. Bob Ramsey, State Rep. Steve McDaniel, State Sen. Jim Tracy, Sumner County|0 Comments

Three public hearings will be held around the state in September to gather opinions and input about a legislative proposal to allow local and state government agencies to charge fees to citizens to inspect public records. Currently, the Tennessee Public Records Act says that citizens must be allowed to view public records for free, but citizens can be charged if they request copies of those records. In the case of copies, citizens by law can be charged both the actual cost of the copy and a per-hour labor fee for the time it takes to compile the records after the first hour. Open Records Counsel Ann Butterworth outlined her draft [...]

7 Mar, 2015

Increasing fees for public records is not the answer for government transparency

By Deborah Fisher|2019-09-11T18:53:33-05:00March 7, 2015|Categories: fees|Tags: Chattanooga, fees for public records, Judge Dee David Gay, legislature, OORC, Rutherford County, Sumner County, Sumner County School Board, Tennessee School Boards Association|0 Comments

The fastest way to shut down access to government records is to charge fees people can’t afford to pay. Another way is to simply ignore or delay responding to citizens or media who make requests under the Tennessee Public Records Act. Yet another, which takes more effort, is to actively confuse or frustrate a citizen or journalist with byzantine policies and practices to make them go away. All can be powerfully effective. And, unfortunately, all take place in Tennessee. The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government received nearly 200 calls to its hotline last year from journalists and citizens who faced obstacles in getting public documents from their local government or [...]

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