FOIL Request for Records Related to Communications with American Academy of Pediatrics and Council on School Health (Niskayuna Central School District)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:

I am seeking all records related to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Council on School Health (COSH), including any communications or correspondence between the school district and these organizations, or any other party that may have provided information to the district from these organizations.

To help identify responsive records, you can limit your time period to 1/1/2017 until the date of final response; also I request that you search for the following terms, which are focused on the American Academy of Pediatrics and its affiliated organizations:

"American Academy of Pediatrics"
"AAP"
"Council on School Health"
"COSH"
"pediatric"
"child health"
"school health"

Please include records of any type, including but not limited to emails, letters, memoranda, reports, meeting minutes, presentations, and any other records of communication or correspondence between the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Council on School Health, and the school district or any other party that may have provided information to the district from these organizations.

If no records are responsive to this request, please provide a certification of that fact pursuant to Public Officers Law §89(3), and inform me of the district's obligations under LGS-01 to retain records until any appeal has been resolved.

If any records are withheld, please provide an explanation of the legal basis for the withholding.

If my request is denied in whole or in part, please provide a written explanation of the reasons for the denial.

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,

Jackson Parker

I am writing to appeal a failure to respond to my FOIL request made on 3/7/23. The request was for records related to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Council on School Health (COSH), including any communications or correspondence between the school district and these organizations, or any other party that may have provided information to the district from these organizations. To help identify responsive records, I requested a search of specific terms.

As of today's date, I have not received a response to my FOIL request. Therefore, I am appealing the lack of response and request that you conduct a diligent search for responsive records and provide them to me in a timely manner.

Furthermore, I would like to modify my original request to narrow the affiliated organizations list to remove references to "pediatric," "child health," and "school health." This modification will allow for a more specific and reasonable description of the records being requested.

Please inform me of the district's obligations under LGS-01 to retain records until any appeal has been resolved. If any records are withheld, please provide an explanation of the legal basis for the withholding.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt response.

Subject: Appeal Regarding the Rejection of FOIL Request on AAP and COSH Records

Dear Superintendent Carl J Mummenthey,

First, I would like to thank you for identifying responsive records to my initial request. However, it seems that my appeal sent on March 19, 2023, which further narrowed the scope of my request, was not taken into account. To address the concerns about the volume of records, I would like to propose additional refinements to the request to further limit its scope.

Please limit the search to the following roles within the Niskayuna Central School District:

a. Superintendent
b. Assistant Superintendents
c. Board Members

Focus on communications that:

a. Reference the following organizations, communications directly between the school district and these organizations, or communications where information from these organizations is shared, either through messages or attachments:
i. "American Academy of Pediatrics"
ii. "AAP"
iii. "Council on School Health"
iv. "COSH"

Please limit the time period of the search to January 1, 2018, through the present date (2023).

I hope that these additional refinements will further reduce the number of documents to be reviewed. Please provide an updated estimate of the number of responsive records for this more focused request. I will then determine how to proceed.

Additionally, I would like to remind the district of its obligations under LGS-01 to retain records until any appeal has been resolved. If any records are withheld, please provide an explanation of the legal basis for the withholding.

Subject: Appeal Regarding the Rejection of FOIL Request on AAP and COSH Records

Dear Superintendent Carl J Mummenthey,

First, I would like to thank you for identifying responsive records to my initial request. However, it seems that my appeal sent on March 19, 2023, which further narrowed the scope of my request, was not taken into account. To address the concerns about the volume of records, I would like to propose additional refinements to the request to further limit its scope.

Please limit the search to the following roles within the Niskayuna Central School District:

a. Superintendent
b. Assistant Superintendents
c. Board Members

Focus on communications that:

a. Reference the following organizations, communications directly between the school district and these organizations, or communications where information from these organizations is shared, either through messages or attachments:
i. "American Academy of Pediatrics"
ii. "AAP"
iii. "Council on School Health"
iv. "COSH"

Please limit the time period of the search to January 1, 2018, through the present date (2023).

I hope that these additional refinements will further reduce the number of documents to be reviewed. Please provide an updated estimate of the number of responsive records for this more focused request. I will then determine how to proceed.

Additionally, I would like to remind the district of its obligations under LGS-01 to retain records until any appeal has been resolved. If any records are withheld, please provide an explanation of the legal basis for the withholding.

Subject: Resubmission of Appeal for FOIL Request Denial - Communications with American Academy of Pediatrics and Council on School Health

Dear Superintendent Carl J Mummenthey,

I am writing to resubmit my appeal regarding the denial of my Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request, originally submitted on March 6, 2023, and denied on April 4, 2023. This appeal was initially sent within the statutory timeframe on April 30, 2023, but has not received a response.

#### Acknowledgment of Timely Appeal

I would like to note that my original appeal was sent within the 30-day window as stipulated by NY Public Officers §89(4)(a). The lack of response to the appeal is concerning and contrary to the same section, which mandates a decision on the appeal within ten (10) business days following its receipt.

#### Existence of Records and Prior Email System

It is important to note that the initial search in the current email system yielded over 11,500 emails from April 2021 to the present. This confirms that records do exist. Additionally, the denial letter acknowledges the existence of a prior email system, which further substantiates the relevance and specificity of my request.

#### Relevance of Request to District Policies

The district has on multiple occasions adopted guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics, as evidenced by your "Back-to-School 2021" and other public communications. This demonstrates that the records sought are not only reasonably described but also of significant public interest.

#### Rejection for Unreasonable Description and Applicability of Referenced AO

The denial letter cited Section 89(3) of FOIL and referenced a Committee on Open Government opinion (FOIL-AO-18949) to justify the denial. However, the cited AO does not absolve the agency from its obligation to assist the requester in formulating a request that would meet FOIL requirements.

#### Additional AOs and Case Law

- **FOIL-AO-19424**: This opinion states that an agency has the duty to make records available and to assist the requester in identifying records that are responsive to the request.

- **FOIL-AO-17674**: This opinion emphasizes that an agency should work with the requester to narrow down a request that initially may be too broad.

- **Matter of Data Tree, LLC v Romaine**, 9 NY3d 454, 460 (2007): "FOIL is to be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly interpreted so that the public is granted maximum access to the records of government."

#### Request for Expedited Response and Remand to Records Access Officer

Due to the lack of response to the initial appeal and the time-sensitive nature of the information sought, I kindly request an expedited response to this resubmitted appeal. I also request that this matter be remanded to the Records Access Officer for reconsideration in light of the AOs and case law cited herein.

Failure to respond may result in further legal action.

Thank you for your immediate attention to this matter.