On the morning of Tuesday, 28 October 2026, I received the following message via email:
|
Minneapolis
Public Schools Public Records |
|
A
message was sent to you regarding record request #26-511: Dear
Requester: Minneapolis
Public Schools has received this request. Pursuant
to Minnesota statute and District policy, the District charges the “actual
cost” for providing electronic data. See Minnesota Statutes,
section 13.03, subdivision 3(c) and District Public Data Request Policy. The
“actual cost” includes the cost of employee time spent searching for,
retrieving, copying, and transmitting the copies of the data. Based
upon our preliminary review of your request, we estimate that responding will
require approximately .2 hours of staff time. The estimated charges are as
follows: Description Search
and retrieval of responsive records:
Total
Estimated Pre-Paid Cost: $ 14.08 The
hourly rate reflects the actual salary and benefits of the employee(s)
reasonably required to search for and retrieve the requested data, as
permitted by Minnesota law. As
permitted by the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minn. Stat. Ch. 13
and as set forth in District policy, the cost must be paid in advance before
you are provided copies of the data in question. Payment
must be made as follows:
John B.
Davis Education and Service Center Attn:
General Counsel Please
include the following in the Memo line of the
check: Data Request 26-511. If the
actual cost of fulfilling your request is less than the estimated amount
paid, any overpayment will be refunded. If the actual cost exceeds the
estimate, you will be notified of the additional amount due before the
records are released. Please
advise if you intend to pay these costs. If we do not hear from you
within five business days of the date of this letter, the District will deem
this request inactive and close the request. Sincerely, Minneapolis
Public Schools https://minneapolispublicschools.nextrequest.com/requests/26-511 |
My
reply was as follows:
October
28, 2026
Kimberly
& Jamie/Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Data Request Staff---
This
morning I received the unacceptable response (below as you scroll on down)
to my MPS Data Request #26-511 calling for payment for information
that should be readily available to the public and that in four previous
administrations has been provided within a day or two. This response
fits a pattern of deception, prevarication, and dilatory responses that I
have come to expect from the Lisa Sayles-Adams administration.
If I do
not today (28 October 2027) receive a suitable reply from MPS Data Requests
pertinent to Request #26-511, I will report your response to the Minnesota
State Data Practices Office and the Minnesota State Court of
Administrative Hearings.
I will
then go forth to publicize the unprofessionalism of MPS Data Requests
staff on the following of my many platforms:
>>>>>
My blog at http://www.newsalemeducation.blogspot.com, read
by over 500,000 people each month on the six inhabited continents (all
continents except Antarctica)
>>>>>
My monthly Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Research and
Essays from Minneapolis, Minnesota, which goes out to select individuals
and is also entered on my blog and therefore also reviewed by over 500,000
monthly readers.
>>>>>
Public Comments at future business meetings of the MPS Board of
Education
>>>>>
Talks at colleges, universities, and other venues
>>>>>
Conversations with people throughout Minneapolis communities,
especially North Minneapolis
>>>>>
A podcast that will commence in spring 2027
and the
second edition of my book on the district,
>>>>>
Understanding the Minneapolis Public Schools: Current
Condition, Future Prospect (Second Edition, 2027)
I will be
anticipating your proper response by the end of this day of Wednesday, 28
October 2026.
With best
regards-----
Gary
Gary
Marvin Davison, Ph.D.
Director,
New Salem Educational Initiative
http://www.newsalemeducation.blogspot.com
Author,
Understanding
the Minneapolis Public
Schools: Current Condition, Future Prospect (New
Salem Educational Initiative, second edition, 2024
Foundations
of an Excellent Liberal Arts Education (New Salem Educational Initiative,
2022
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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Minneapolis
Public Schools General Council Jamie Jonassen then replied as follows:
On Wed,
Oct 28, 2026 at 5:45 PM Jamie Jonassen <Jamie.Jonassen@mpls.k12.mn.us>
wrote:
Good
afternoon, Mr. Davison,
Thank you
again for your email and your patience. MPS began charging for data
requests, as allowed by law, at or near the beginning of June 2026. You
likely noticed when you submitted your request that the automated response
email contains notification of this practice.
As to the
amount of time that has passed since your request was made, I note that it was
made on October 5th. Since that time, we have received
approximately 15 data requests from individuals seeking data about themselves,
as well as court orders, search warrants, and other requests for public
data. I recognize that our response time is longer than you would
prefer. However, given the statutory 10-day deadline for producing data
about individuals, we are prioritizing those requests.
Please
advise in the portal how you wish to proceed relative to Request No. 26-511.
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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