Q: I am just wondering how I can find out the rate of teacher absenteeism at my school. This information seems to be difficult to find, and yet absenteeism has been a big issue for my daughter’s education. She has been taught by substitute after substitute. Please advise as to what the source of this information might be, so that I can bring it forward and have the proper officials try to work toward solving the problem.
A: A good starting point for obtaining information about the rate of
teacher absenteeism at your daughter’s school might be a request for
records under California’s Public Records Act. Under the PRA, public
records — which include “any writing containing information relating to
the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained
by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or
characteristics,” Govt. Code section 6252(e) — are presumed to be open
to the public and must be disclosed unless a specific provision of the
PRA or other law exempts them from disclosure.
Accordingly, a request to your school or school district for records
reflecting teacher absenteeism might give you exactly what you are
looking for. More information about requesting records under the PRA,
including a sample request letter, is available at the FAC’s web site at
2 Comments
If I have sent a letter appealing a denial of access to documents under the Public Records Act and the agency does not respond at all during that required period (10 days I believe) what recourse do I have? Is there an agency I report this to? Do I take the agency to court? Can I get assistance with this issue? Also, are the ten days calendar days or work days?
Thank you.
I tried to get the absenteeism rate for the bargaining units in my city, and was told that “No such data exists”. Even though union absenteeism rate is generally believed to be as high as 30% in the automotive industry, the local city government is under no obligations (by state law or municipal code) to collect such data. It is beyond belief that this data is not being collected–but in my town .. the claim from the HR Department is that they do not collect it, nor do they intend to collect it.
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