FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

In the Matter of a Complaint by			FINAL DECISION
Brenda Kupchick,
		Complainant
	against		Docket #FIC 2000-658
Board of Education, Fairfield Public Schools,
		Respondent	April 11, 2001

The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on January 10, 2001, at which time the complainant and the respondent appeared, stipulated to certain facts and presented testimony, exhibits and argument on the complaint.

After consideration of the entire record, the following facts are found and conclusions of law are reached:

1.  The respondent is a public agency within the meaning of §1-200(1), G.S.

 

2.      By letter dated December 4, 2000 the complainant made a request to the chairman of the respondent board for a copy of  “any and all documents, memos, letters, minutes, etc., that initiated or that resulted from” a November 20, 2000 letter written by the chairman of the respondent board.  The request was submitted to the respondent board’s secretary at the respondent board’s December 4, 2000 regular meeting.

 

3.      By letter dated and filed on December 13, 2000, the complainant appealed to this Commission alleging that the respondent violated the Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act by failing to respond to her December 4, 2000 request.

 

4.      Section 1-210(a), G.S., provides in relevant part that:

 

[e]xcept as otherwise provided by any federal law or state statute, all records maintained or kept on file by any public agency, whether or not such records are required by any law or by any rule or regulation, shall be public records and every person shall have the right . . . to receive a copy of such records in accordance with the provisions of section 1-212.  Any agency rule or regulation, or part thereof, that conflicts with the provisions of this subsection or diminishes or curtails in any way the rights granted by this subsection shall be void.

 

5.      Section 1-212(a), G.S., provides in relevant part that “[a]ny person applying in writing shall receive, promptly upon request, a plain or certified copy of any public record . . . .”

 

6.      It is found that the requested records, to the extent such records exist, are public records within the meaning of §1-210(a), G.S.

 

7.      It is found that the chairman became aware of the complainant’s request on or about December 8, 2000 after reviewing the material from the December 4, 2000 meeting of the respondent board, which material was provided to him by the respondent board’s secretary.

 

8.      It is found that the chairman presented the complainant’s request to the respondent board at its next meeting, which was held on December 12, 2000.

 

9.      It is found that after the respondent board’s meeting of December 12, 2000, the chairman and the superintendent of schools searched their records for any documents that would be responsive to the complainant’s request, which search yielded two maps.

 

10.  It is found that by letter dated December 15, 2000, the chairman provided the complainant with copies of the two maps.

 

11.  The complainant claims that the November 20, 2000 letter and the issues related to it resulted in the expenditure of large sums of town funds and that such expenditure should have generated more documents than the two maps she received.  The complainant claims that there should, at the minimum, be an invoice pertaining to the expenditure.

 

12.  It is found that at the time of the hearing on this matter the respondent was not aware of the invoice the complainant claims should exist.

 

13.  It is also found that, to the extent such an invoice exists, it would be maintained by the town of Fairfield and not the respondent board.

 

14.  It is further found that the respondent board does not maintain any other documents responsive to the complainant’s request.

 

15.  It is therefore concluded that the respondent board did not violate the disclosure provisions of §§1-210(a) or 1-212(a), G.S.

 

The following order by the Commission is hereby recommended on the basis of the record concerning the above-captioned complaint.

 

            1.  The complaint is hereby dismissed.

 

Approved by Order of the Freedom of Information Commission at its regular meeting of April 11, 2001.

 

 

_________________________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

PURSUANT TO SECTION 4-180(c), G.S., THE FOLLOWING ARE THE NAMES OF EACH PARTY AND THE MOST RECENT MAILING ADDRESS, PROVIDED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION, OF THE PARTIES OR THEIR AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE.

 

THE PARTIES TO THIS CONTESTED CASE ARE:

 

Brenda Kupchick

124 Fieldcrest Drive

Fairfield, CT 06432

 

Board of Education

Fairfield Public Schools

c/o Floyd J. Dugas, Esq.

Berchem, Moses & Devlin, PC

75 Broad Street

Milford, CT 06460

 

 

 

________________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

FIC/2000-658/FD/paj/04/12/2001