Gaggle, Huntley
| Submitted | July 9, 2019 |
MuckRock users can file, duplicate, track, and share public records requests like this one. Learn more.
Communications
From: Caroline Haskins
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:
According to the Gaggle website, this school district has used its company’s services (https://www.gaggle.net/success-stories/). Therefore, I hereby request the following documents:
* Any documents associated with the purchase of Gaggle services for the school district. These documents may include contracts, grant applications, payment forms, payment orders, service agreements, and terms of service.
* The total number of students in the school district that have been flagged for “signs of self-harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance abuse, cyberbullying, unhealthy relationships, and credible threats of violence against others.”
* The number of students that have been flagged for each respective warning sign category listed above.
* Any school district emails that discuss disciplinary action (like detention or suspension) or an administrative response (like removing the student from class, or contacting the school guidance counselor, Child Protective Services, or the police) to student behavior on Gaggle.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. It will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE’s technology website (www.motherboard.vice.com).
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Caroline Haskins
From: Huntley Community School District
Ms. Haskins,
We have received your FOIA request. I wanted to provide you with an initial
response and clarify some other points:
- Do you have a specific date range in mind for these records? We do
compile such a report annually, and I could provide that to you for the
past year.
- The system does not have incidents categorized as per your request
(signs of self-harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance abuse,
cyberbullying, unhealthy relationships, and credible threats of violence
against others). What we have is three more general categories: Violations,
questionable content, and possible student situation. Please let me know if
data provided in these categories will work for you.
- After receiving your clarification, I anticipate being able to provide
you with records pertaining to the above within five business days.
- However, after discussing with related employees, I anticipate being
unable to provide you with the requested email records responsive to the
request within five business days. This delay will be due to the
substantial number of records to be collected, in that employees will need
to manually sort through potentially thousands of emails that may pertain
to the request as written. Is there a date by which you require these
records? We will do our best to provide them expediently and should be able
to provide you with a more specific estimate after the process has begun.
Thank you for your interest in this initiative, and please let me know if I
can be of further assistance in the interim.
Best,
Dan Armstrong
--
Sincerely,
Dan Armstrong
Director of Communications & Public Engagement
FOIA Officer
Huntley Community School District 158
(847) 659-6105
darmstrong@district158.org
From: Caroline Haskins
Hi Dan, thanks for your quick response! Here are answers to your follow-ups:
- "Do you have a specific date range in mind for these records?" -- If you do annual reports, it would be great to see the annual reports since the district began using the service.
- "The system does not have incidents categorized as per your request..." -- Yes, the categories of "Violations, questionable content, and possible student situation" that you listed will definitely work for me.
- "I anticipate being unable to provide you with the requested email records responsive to the
request within five business days." -- That's completely fine. There isn't a hard deadline that I need these documents by, but if you could expedite them as described, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much! Don't hesitate to reach out again.
-
Caroline
From: Huntley Community School District
Dear Ms. Haskins:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act request
received July 10, 2019 for the following records:
* Any documents associated with the purchase of Gaggle services for the
school district. These documents may include contracts, grant applications,
payment forms, payment orders, service agreements, and terms of service.
* The total number of students in the school district that have been
flagged for “signs of self-harm, depression, thoughts of suicide, substance
abuse, cyberbullying, unhealthy relationships, and credible threats of
violence against others.”
* The number of students that have been flagged for each respective warning
sign category listed above.
* Any school district emails that discuss disciplinary action (like
detention or suspension) or an administrative response (like removing the
student from class, or contacting the school guidance counselor, Child
Protective Services, or the police) to student behavior on Gaggle.
Via email on July 10, clarification was sought to align the District’s
existing records with your requests. This exchange included clarification
of the timeframe of the request, what existing records the District has,
and notice that the email portion of the request would take longer than 5
business days to fulfill.
This message contains records (attached) responsive to parts 1, 2, and 3 of
your request, including purchase records/agreements and annual reports of
flagged incidents since the start of service. Staff are at work to compile
the requested email records, which will be provided as soon as possible.
Please contact me if I can be of further assistance in the interim.
--
Sincerely,
Dan Armstrong
FOIA Officer
Huntley Community School District 158
(847) 659-6105
darmstrong@district158.org
From: Caroline Haskins
Thank you so much! I appreciate your timely response with this, and I'll keep my eye out for further correspondence.
From: Huntley Community School District
Good morning,
I have attached 500 pages of email records pertaining to flagged content
from Gaggle leading to followup actions from the past year. Our staff
provides written confirmation of followup actions on all reports, so there
are a substantial number of emails falling under this purview. We have
completed necessary redaction on the first 500 pages of more than 1,300
such pages that exist. In the interest of time, I have attached these first
500 pages. This process is very time-consuming, and the attached are pretty
reflective of the kind of situations we usually see. However, if you wish
to receive the remaining email records, please let me know and I will
continue the process of redacting.
Thank you and please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
--
Sincerely,
Dan Armstrong
FOIA Officer
Huntley Community School District 158
(847) 659-6105
darmstrong@district158.org
Files
pages