Lewis-Palmer school board debates limiting public’s right to request records

Tri-Lakes Tribune (Monument):  In the five years spanning 2010-14, the Lewis-Palmer School District 38 had eight requests filed from people seeking public documents under the Colorado Open Records Act, also known as CORA.

In 2015, D-38 received 17 requests for public documents, or slightly more than one a month. This year, the district already has received 36 requests, or about one a week.

That growth prompted district staff to alert the school board to a growing “issue” with CORA requests, prompting testy debate and discussion of limiting the public’s right to access documents of its school district.

Bob Foster, D-38 director of personnel, gave the board a detailed breakdown of the requests, saying one woman submitted more than half the 61 requests made in the past six years. He said she is responsible for 16 of the 36 requests so far this year.

Foster said he typically spends about an hour on each request, asking questions of one or two other staff to help him with responses.

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