ChatGPT (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education)

Dear Jason Koebler:

On February 21, 2023, the custodian of records of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) received your request for public records. Your request is as follows:

Pursuant to the The Missouri Sunshine Law, I hereby request the following records:

Public reports show that ChatGPT is a major topic of conversation at American public schools: https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2023/02/15/students-at-cape-coral-high-school-accused-of-using-artificial-intelligence-to-cheat-on-essay/amp/

Therefore, I hereby request the following records:

1) All instructional materials, presentations and presentation materials related to ChatGPT. This includes A) any notes taken during meetings that discussed ChatGPT and B) Any other documents related to ChatGPT including internal documentation, public relations materials, and executive summaries.

2) Any memos or communications sent to schools, administrators, teachers, parents, or students that mention "ChatGPT."

3) Any case studies, enforcement actions, contracts, or other documents mentioning ChatGPT

4) Any academic dishonesty policies that mention ChatGPT

5) To the extent possible, any emails and associated attachments that mention ChatGPT

To help limit the extent of the responsive documents, please limit search from Jan 1, 2023 through the time this request is processed. Please deliver these documents on a rolling basis as responsive documents are found.

We are in the process of reviewing your request to locate and preliminarily identify what records we maintain that may be responsive. We estimate this process will take no more than 10 business days, meaning that we will be able to provide the time and cost estimate no later than March 10, 2023. This time frame is based on the size of this request, number of outstanding requests, and current office responsibilities. Once it is complete, we will contact you with a time and cost estimate for your request, pursuant to Section 610.026, RSMo.

We have considered your request to waive fees and respectfully decline.

Please be aware that to the extent information contained within the records is considered closed and/or confidential, it will be redacted pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo, and any other applicable state or federal law.

Respectfully,

Joel E. Anderson
Legal Counsel
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office: 573-751-3527

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION:
This document may contain privileged Attorney/Client Communication and/or Attorney Work Product protected from discovery and should not be disclosed except as specifically authorized in the preparation or disposition of this matter. If you are the intended recipient of this transmission, be advised that its use is restricted by law and for the purpose stated herein. If you are not the intended recipient of this transmission, take notice that any reviewing, use, dissemination, or copying of the information transmitted herewith is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please return it to the sender and delete all copies from your system.

Dear Jason Koebler:

I am following up to our email to you of February 24, 2023.

Based on the date parameters and the terms of your request, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education can provide records other than the results from our search of email at no charge. We will require no more than 10 business days to provide these records, or by March 24, 2023. We will send these to you with no extra action required on your part.

The search of our email system, which you asked us to treat as a separate request, resulted in over 2,000 individual emails. This count does not include attachments. The estimated cost to provide access to these records is $1,587.39 (42.47 hours at $37.37 per hour) pursuant to Section 610.026.1(2), RSMo. This cost is based on the time needed to review and prepare electronic copies of the records you have requested.

We would be happy to discuss ways of further focusing this request to reduce cost and time necessary to finally prepare the records for delivery.

Should you wish to go forward, please send a check payable to the Treasurer, State of Missouri, and mail it to Governmental Affairs, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, P.O. Box 480, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Once we receive payment, based on the size of this request, the number of pending requests, and other office duties, we estimate that the earliest these records would be available for you will be 85 business days. In other words, if we were to receive payment for your request today, we estimate that the earliest date we would be able to provide access to the records would be July 13, 2023.

Please note that to the extent information that is considered closed or confidential under law may be included in any records considered responsive, it will be redacted pursuant to Section 610.021, RSMo, and any other applicable state or federal law.

I hope this information is of assistance.

Respectfully,

Joel E. Anderson
Legal Counsel
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office: 573-751-3527

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION:
This document may contain privileged Attorney/Client Communication and/or Attorney Work Product protected from discovery and should not be disclosed except as specifically authorized in the preparation or disposition of this matter. If you are the intended recipient of this transmission, be advised that its use is restricted by law and for the purpose stated herein. If you are not the intended recipient of this transmission, take notice that any reviewing, use, dissemination, or copying of the information transmitted herewith is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please return it to the sender and delete all copies from your system.

Dear Jason Koebler:

I am following up to our email to you of March 10, 2023. Attached, please find the responsive records as we described in that email.

I hope this information is helpful.

Respectfully,

Joel Ellis Anderson
Legal Counsel
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office: 573-751-3527

PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION:
This document may contain privileged Attorney/Client Communication and/or Attorney Work Product protected from discovery and should not be disclosed except as specifically authorized in the preparation or disposition of this matter. If you are the intended recipient of this transmission, be advised that its use is restricted by law and for the purpose stated herein. If you are not the intended recipient of this transmission, take notice that any reviewing, use, dissemination, or copying of the information transmitted herewith is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please return it to the sender and delete all copies from your system.