Three
weeks after my first follow-up communication to MPS Data Requests, I issued the
following message:
October
26, 2026
Kimberly
& Jamie/MPS Data Request Staff---
Twenty-one
days have now transpired since I issued Public Data Request #26-511 asking for
Davis Center staff listed by position and salary. In prior
administrations Scott Weber easily provided this information within a day or
two.
I
received Kimberly's acknowledgement of my follow-up inquiry and also Jamie's
substantial email detailing the reasons for current delays.
Nevertheless,
three weeks since issuance of the request I have no reply giving the
information requested. This is unacceptable for a request that merely
requires the touching of cursor to screen on the part of Scott Weber or whoever
is currently responding to requests for Davis Center Staff by position and
salary.
I
appreciate Jamie's explanations; however, under conditions of short
staffing and the great number of requests received, adjustments should be made
to ferret out for priority those requests that can be fulfilled so extremely
easily.
Please
fulfill the indicated request, made three weeks ago, with all merited attention
and alacrity.
With best
regards---
Gary
Gary
Marvin Davison, Ph.D.
Director,
New Salem Educational Initiative
2507
Bryant Ave North
Minneapolis
MN 55411
http://www.newsalemeducation.blogspot.com
Author,
Understanding
the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect (New
Salem Educational Initiative, second edition, 2026
Foundations
of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education (New Salem Educational Initiative,
2026)
A Concise
History of African America (Seaburn, 2004
The State
of African Americans in Minnesota 2004 (Minneapolis
Urban League, 2008
The State
of African Americans in Minnesota 2008 (Minneapolis Urban League,
2004)
Tales
from the Taiwanese (Libraries Unlimited, 2004)
A Short
History of Taiwan: The Case for Independence (Praeger,
2003)
Culture
and Customs of Taiwan ([with Barbara E. Reed]
(Greenwood, 1998)
Agricultural
Development and the Fate of Farmers in Taiwan, 1945-1990 (Minneapolis,
Minnesota: Ph. D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota, 1993)
A World
History: Links Across Time and Place ([with
six other authors] (McDougal Littell, 1988)
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This Time, General Council
Jamie Jonassen replied as follows:
Good
morning, Mr. Davison -
Thank you
so much for your interest in Minneapolis Public Schools. I can assure you
that MPS is diligently working on data requests as they come into the District.
I want to provide some context that I hope will be helpful. At the end of
the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Office of General Counsel cut a paralegal
position. Although this predates my time at MPS, I understand that this
cut was due to district-wide budget cuts. At the end of the 2025-26
fiscal year, the Office of General Counsel cut a data practices supervisory
attorney position - a position devoted almost exclusively to responding to data
requests - due to district-wide budget cuts.
Compounding
these staffing reductions, MPS is receiving substantially more data requests
this year. For context, between January 1, 2023, and October 1, 2023, MPS
received roughly 120 data requests in the NextRequest portal. Between
January 1, 2024, and October 1, 2024, MPS received roughly 244 data requests in
the NextRequest portal. Similar to 2024, between January 1, 2025, and
October 1, 2025, MPS received roughly 230 data requests in the NextRequest
portal.
Comparatively,
between January 1, 2026, and October 1, 2026, MPS received 493 data requests in
the NextRequest portal.
I do
appreciate your patience and hope this information is helpful to understanding
why a reasonable response time may be slower than prior years. Again, I
can assure you that MPS is working diligently to respond to all data requests
as they come in.
Thank
you,
Jamie
Jonassen | General Counsel | (she/her/hers)
Minneapolis
Public Schools | Office of the General Counsel
John B.
Davis Education Service Center | 1250 W Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411
jamie.jonassen@mpls.k12.mn.us | mpschools.org
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