FREEDOM OF INFORMATION COMMISSION
OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT

                                                                                                           

 

            The above-captioned matter was heard as a contested case on February 2, 2006 at which time the complainant and the respondents appeared 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 respondents are public agencies within the meaning of §1-200(1)(A), G.S.

 

2.  It is found that by emails dated September 13, 2005 and October 6, 2005, the complainant made a request to the respondents for “an updated list of the names and addresses of all Westbrook students and parents” (the “requested records”). 

 

3.  By email dated September 13, 2005, the respondents declined to provide the requested records, citing the exemption at §1-210(b)(11), G.S.   

 

4.  By letter dated and filed with the Freedom of Information Commission (“Commission” or sometimes “FOIC”) on November 2, 2005, the complainant appealed to the Commission, alleging that the respondents’ failure to provide the requested records violated the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). In his complaint, the complainant contended that the release of the requested records to the Westbrook Education Association and statements in the District Handbook constituted a waiver of the statutory exemption.

 

5.  Section 1-210(a) and §1-212(a), G.S., state, respectively, in relevant parts:

 

 

      Except 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 (1) inspect such records promptly during regular office or business hours, (2) copy such records in accordance with subsection (g) of section 1-212, or (3) receive a copy of such records in accordance with section 1-212. …. (emphasis added)

 

…

 

Any person applying in writing shall receive, promptly upon request, a plain or certified copy of any public record. 

 

6.  It is found that the respondents maintain the requested records and that such records are public records.

 

7.  Section 1-210(b), G.S., states in relevant part:

 

Nothing in the Freedom of Information Act shall be construed to require disclosure of:

 

….

 

(11) Names or addresses of students enrolled in any public school or college without the consent of each student whose name or address is to be disclosed who is eighteen years of age or older and a parent or guardian of each such student who is younger than eighteen years of age, provided this subdivision shall not be construed as prohibiting the disclosure of the names or addresses of students enrolled in any public school in a regional school district to the board of selectmen or town board of finance, as the case may be, of the town wherein the student resides for the purpose of verifying tuition payments made to such school; (emphasis added) 

 

            8.  It is found that the Westbrook Education Association obtained copies of the names and addresses of students, and parents of students, in the Westbrook Public Schools from clerical employees in the principals’ offices of the three schools in Westbrook. These disclosures were in violation of the standard procedures for obtaining records established by the respondent superintendent. As a result of these disclosures, the relevant employees have been instructed that such a violation should not recur in the future.

 

            9.  It is also found that the respondent superintendent has not released the requested records to any member of the public during the last eight years of his tenure as superintendent.

 

            10.  It is further found that, while the respondents’ District Handbook permits the disclosure of directory information, it does not require such disclosure.

 

11.  It is finally found that neither the complainant nor the respondents obtained any consents to disclosure from students or parents, pursuant to the provisions of §1-210(b)(11), G.S.       

 

12.  In Hartford Board of Education v. FOIC et al, Docket No. CV 95 055 56 46, Superior Court, J.D. of Hartford/New Britain, Memorandum of Decision dated January 9, 1997 (Maloney, J.), the court held that §1-210(b)(11), G.S., prohibits the release of the names and addresses of parents with children in a given school, because such a release would lead to the disclosure of the prohibited student information. For a subsequent FOIC decision applying the holding of Hartford Board of Education v. FOIC et al., id., see Paulsen v. Superintendent of Schools, Bethel Public Schools, Docket #FIC 2002-206.   

 

13.  Notwithstanding the findings at paragraphs 8, 9 and 10, above, it is a basic principle of the law of waiver that the respondents cannot waive the rights of students and their parents, as set forth at §1-210(b)(11), G.S., above. See Soares v. Max Services, Inc., 42 Conn. App. 147, 175-176 (1996). 

 

14.  It is also concluded that, in the absence of consent by each of the individual students or parents, as required by the provisions of §1-210(b)(11), G.S., there was no waiver of the exemption.

 

15.  Accordingly, it is concluded that §1-210(b)(11), G.S., exempts the entirety of the requested records from mandatory disclosure.

 

16.  It is therefore concluded that the respondents did not violate §1-210(a), G.S., when they declined to provide the requested records to the complainant.

 

 

            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 March 22, 2006.

 

________________________________

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:

 

Troy Foreman

811 Pond Meadow Road

Westbrook, CT 06498

 

Superintendent of Schools,

Westbrook Public Schools;

and Board of Education,

Westbrook Public Schools

c/o Susan Scott, Esq.

Sullivan, Schoen, Campane & Connon

646 Prospect Avenue

Hartford, CT 06105-4286

 

 

___________________________________

Petrea A. Jones

Acting Clerk of the Commission

 

 

 

FIC/2005-528FD/paj/3/22/2006