The Jackson Sun Archives - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

25 May, 2016

Performance evaluation of UT-M chancellor off limits to public under new law

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-25T14:45:32-05:00May 25, 2016|Categories: exemptions|Tags: exemptions, performance evaluations, public records exemptions, The Jackson Sun, University of Tennessee at Martin|0 Comments

The Jackson Sun hit a public records roadblock in its ongoing probe into the accreditation problems at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Here's the short story: Tom Rakes resigned his position as chancellor at UT-Martin on May 31, 2015, and is now teaching a few online classes at the university for a lowered salary of $185,520. The university was placed on academic probation in December 2015 after years of notification to the university of key problems from its accrediting body. UT system President Joe DiPietro declined to say whether performance issues were a factor in the chancellor's resignation. So the newspaper asked for Rakes' personnel file, expecting to see Rakes' [...]

2 May, 2016

Jackson Sun gets $1,600 public records bill after requesting to see accreditation emails at UT-Martin

By Deborah Fisher|2016-05-02T18:13:24-05:00May 2, 2016|Categories: fees|Tags: emails, fees for public records, Schedule of Reasonable Charges, The Jackson Sun, University of Tennessee-Martin|0 Comments

The Jackson Sun in a Sunday editorial called for reform of the state's public records fee schedule after getting a $1,600 public records bill for copies of emails about University of Tennessee at Martin's academic probation. Jackson Sun Editor Steve Coffman When UT-Martin's administrators said they didn't have specifics about the probation, the newspaper requested to review emails to and from the college's administrative and academic leadership team on the topic. What the emails showed: UTM knew it was at risk for losing accreditation for multiple years for failing to address five specific and related standards, yet did little about it. (See story: UTM repeatedly failed to fix issues that led to probation) Getting [...]

2 Dec, 2015

Gibson County court clerk refuses to release public documents

By Deborah Fisher|2015-12-02T15:00:19-06:00December 2, 2015|Categories: crime records|Tags: court clerk, Gibson County, Gibson County Circuit Court Clerk Janice Jones, Gibson County Sheriff's Office, indictment, The Jackson Sun|0 Comments

The Jackson Sun tried yesterday to get a copy of indictments against 12 current and former employees of the Gibson County Sheriff's Office. But the Circuit Court Clerk refused to let the newspaper see them or get copies. She said she had not yet logged the indictment into the computer system. The indictments were the result of an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Comptroller's Office. Here is an excerpt from the story: Gibson County court clerk refuses to release public documents: (Janice) Jones refused to make the indictments available for viewing and refused to email, scan or let a reporter take a photo of the documents. [...]