(April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

Activity:

• June 12, 2025 1:48 pm

  2 weeks ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: Amy Smith <[email protected]>
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected]
  date: Jun 12, 2025, 1:48 PM
  subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon Amy, all others CCed,

   

  I submitted the following public records request to your offices via email on April 30, 2025 @ 4:12pm:

  Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  This is my third and final attempt to follow up since May 30 @ 3:12pm. I have not received any response.

   

  The records Amy provided via email on May 30 do not satisfy my request, and are not responsive to the request I submitted to your offices on April 30. The records Amy provided seem to respond to some other person in the public, who is not me — and who appears to have sent a similar (but obviously different) request to your offices on April 22, eight days before I submitted my request.

   

  My request was sent solely by me and my email address records@sunshinerequest.com . If anyone other than that email address contacted you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me, and you should not commingle or treat that as an alteration / cancellation / fulfillment of my request. I intend to continue to pursue my request until it has been fulfilled by Law.

   

  Please confirm you will proceed to fulfill my request as written on April 30, without further delay. 

   

  Under NC Public Records Law, RCS is required to “promptly” process all public records requests. Essentially, this means that if you intentionally delay the fulfillment of a request by allowing it to “sit” until staff has availability to address it, or feels like answering my emails, then this could be considered a denial of a request. With this in mind, I want to highlight again the court case referenced in item #6 of the following article, posted on the NC Press Association website. In this instance: “The trial court held that an unjustified one-month delay in production of records was tantamount to a denial”. http://www.ncpress.com/stories/a-bakers-dozen-for-2022nc-public-records-law,2390

   

  If I do not hear back by June 29, I will mark this request as having been “Denied” by your organization, again.

   

  Thank you.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Follow up
• June 4, 2025 4:46 pm

  3 weeks ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: Amy Smith <[email protected]>
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: Jun 4, 2025, 4:46 PM
  subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Hi Amy,

   

  I’m following up on my previous message (May 30, 3:12pm).

   

  I have not received a response.

   

  Please confirm you will proceed to fulfill my request, as written and submitted to your offices (by me, [email protected]) on April 30, 2025 at 4:12pm.

   

  Thank you.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Follow up
• May 30, 2025 3:12 pm

  3 weeks ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: Amy Smith <[email protected]>
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 30, 2025, 3:12 PM
  subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Hi Amy,

   

  I have just reviewed your first email. I will have to review the others next week.

   

  I just want to clarify —

   

  Despite that someone in the public (“Judge Baxter”) seems to have written you a similar request in a similar style as though they are me (Sunshine Request, [email protected]) — that email in the first PDF you sent showing the request’s submission on April 22, did not come from me. Additionally, the request you seem to have received from someone on April 22 is not the same as mine. It is not the same request.

   

  I did not submit my records request to your office until April 30, 2025 @ 4:12pm.

   

  Please confirm that you have processed my request, as written and submitted to you above, on April 30, 2025 at 4:12pm.

   

  My request has been sent solely by me and my email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacted you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me. Please do not commingle or treat that as an alteration, cancellation, or fulfillment of my request – I intend to continue to pursue my request.

   

  Thank you.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Clarification Requested
• May 30, 2025 2:42 pm

  3 weeks ago

  from: Amy Smith <[email protected]>
  to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 30, 2025, 2:43 PM
  subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Please see the attachment.

   

  Thanks,

  Amy Smith
  Executive Assistant
  Rutherford County Schools
  382 West Main Street
  Forest City, NC 28043
  828.288.2211
  828.748.8376

   

  “All e-mail correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.”

   

  ** Editor’s Note. Please see the second .PDF file referenced (“Records Request_05-2025_2.pdf“) at top left in our Documents section. However, please note the documents we’ve received show a similar, but different, records request was made by someone in the public (not Sunshine Request) on April 22. That seems to be what Amy is responding to. We’ve followed up to ask Amy to clarify if she is processing the request we submitted on April 30.

  ---

   

  from: Amy Smith <[email protected]>
  to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 30, 2025, 2:42 PM
  subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon,

   

  In response to your request, please see the attached document. Due to the file size, I will send a second document in a separate email.

   

  Thanks,

  Amy Smith
  Executive Assistant
  Rutherford County Schools
  382 West Main Street
  Forest City, NC 28043
  828.288.2211
  828.748.8376

   

  “All e-mail correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.”

   

  ** Editor’s Note. Please see the first .PDF file referenced (“Records Request_05-2025_1.pdf“) at top left in our Documents section. However, please note that this .PDF seems to show a similar, but different, records request made by someone in the public (not Sunshine Request) on April 22. That seems to be what Amy is responding to. We’ve followed up to ask Amy to clarify if she is processing the request we submitted on April 30.

  ---

  Status: Response Received from Government
• May 30, 2025 1:53 pm

  3 weeks ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: [email protected]
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 30, 2025, 1:53 PM
  subject: Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon,

   

  This is my 4th attempt to follow up with you all regarding my public records request. It was first submitted to your offices on April 30th:

  (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  I have not received any response since submitting the request, nor to my follow up messages about this on May 07, May 14, and May 23.

   

  Under NC Public Records Law, RCS is required to “promptly” process all public records requests. Essentially, this means that if you intentionally delay the fulfillment of a request by allowing it to “sit” until staff has availability to address it, or feels like answering my emails, then this could be considered a denial of a request. With this in mind, I want to highlight again the court case referenced in item #6 of the following article, posted on the NC Press Association website. In this instance: “The trial court held that an unjustified one-month delay in production of records was tantamount to a denial”. http://www.ncpress.com/stories/a-bakers-dozen-for-2022nc-public-records-law,2390

   

  I have made reasonable efforts to follow up on my request since April 30, and having received no response at all in 1 month — I will now mark this request as having been “Denied” by your organization.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Government Denied Request
• May 23, 2025 3:04 pm

  1 month ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: [email protected]
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 23, 2025, 3:04 PM
  subject: Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Hello Brad, Paul, Amy, Phillip, David, Kim, Tammie, Ritchie, RCS and School Board,

   

  This is my third and final attempt to follow up with you all about my public records request, submitted to your offices on April 30:

  (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  I have not received any response since submitting the request, nor to my follow up messages about this on May 07 and May 14.

   

  Under NC Public Records Law, RCS is required to “promptly” process all public records requests. Essentially, this means that if you intentionally delay the fulfillment of a request by allowing it to “sit” until staff has availability to address it, or feels like answering my emails, then this could be considered a denial of a request. With this in mind, I want to highlight again the court case referenced in item #6 of the following article, posted on the NC Press Association website. In this instance: “The trial court held that an unjustified one-month delay in production of records was tantamount to a denial”. http://www.ncpress.com/stories/a-bakers-dozen-for-2022nc-public-records-law,2390

   

  Having made reasonable effort to follow up on my request since April 30, and having received no response in nearly 1 month — if I do not hear back in 1 week, I will need to mark the request as having been “Denied” by your organization.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Follow up
• May 14, 2025 2:25 pm

  1 month ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: [email protected]
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 14, 2025, 2:25 PM
  subject: Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon,

   

  This is my second attempt to follow up with you about my public records request, submitted to your offices on April 30:

  (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  I have not received any response since submitting the request, nor to my follow up message on May 07.

   

  Under NC Public Records Law, RCS is required to “promptly” process all public records requests. Essentially, this means that if you intentionally delay the fulfillment of a request by allowing it to “sit” until staff has availability to address it, or feels like answering my emails, then this could be considered a denial of a request. With this in mind, I want to highlight the court case referenced in item #6 of the following article, posted on the NC Press Association website. In this instance: “The trial court held that an unjustified one-month delay in production of records was tantamount to a denial”. http://www.ncpress.com/stories/a-bakers-dozen-for-2022nc-public-records-law,2390

   

  I will follow up again in 1 week, if I don’t hear back before then.

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Follow up
• May 7, 2025 1:35 pm

  1 month ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: [email protected]
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: May 7, 2025, 1:35 PM
  subject: Re: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon Brad, Paul, Amy, Phillip, David, Kim, Tammie, Ritchie, Rutherford Co. Schools and School Board,

   

  I submitted the following public records request to your offices on April 30:
  (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  I have not received any response since submitting the request.

   

  Please confirm receipt of my request to let me know it has begun processing, and please provide an anticipated date for its completion. I will follow up again in 1 week, if I don’t hear anything else before then.

   

  Thank you for your help!

   

  ~ The Sunshine Request Team

  ---

  Status: Follow up
• April 30, 2025 4:12 pm

  1 month ago

  from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
  to: [email protected]
  cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], David Sutton <[email protected]>, [email protected], Tammie Ash <[email protected]>, [email protected]
  date: Apr 30, 2025, 4:12 PM
  subject: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for Rutherford County, NC Schools and School Board: Emails sent to or from employees, board members, superintendent. 04/22/2023 – 02/14/2024.

   

  Good afternoon Brad, Paul, Amy, Phillip, David, Kim, Tammie, Ritchie, Rutherford Co. Schools and School Board (Records Officer / Custodian(s) of these records),

   

  Please reply promptly to the following public records request, which I’m making in accordance with NC Public Records Law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html

   

  1) Please provide all emails sent To or sent From any Rutherford County Schools employees, board members, or superintendent, that include the email domain “@hilconsultants.com” in the email address. During the time period of April 22, 2023 through February 14, 2024.

   

  2) Please provide all emails sent To or sent From any Rutherford County Schools employees, board members, or superintendent, that contain the name “Deborah Frisby” in any part of the email. During the time period of April 22, 2023 through February 14, 2024.

   

  For all items – I’m explicitly asking that you please DO NOT provide me with any confidential, sensitive, or personally identifying information about specific students / families or their data (if that type of info happens to be contained in the responsive records).

   

  ** I’m simply requesting an electronic copy of an electronic record, if one exists. I’m NOT asking for the opportunity to come in person to “inspect”, nor to obtain a printed copy of, this electronic record. I’m requesting explicitly that any responsive info be provided to me via the electronic medium / electronic format (in which the copy of this record already exists). If you are unable to fulfill any or all parts of this request, please specifically cite where a reason for denial is justified under NC Public Records Law. **
  ————————————

   

  Please note that by submitting this request, I’m NOT agreeing to pay any potential fees or associated costs related to my request. If it isn’t possible to process the request without incurring fees, then please let me know the itemized potential cost and clear explanations of those charges upfront, and DO NOT proceed until I respond.

   

  By Law I’m not required to provide a name or address to associate with a public records request. However, in order to move things along I’d like to clarify that this request is being made by:

   

  Sunshine Request
  PO Box 17391
  Asheville, NC 28816

   

  The request has been sent solely by me and my email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me. Please do not commingle or treat that as an alteration or cancellation of my request – I intend to continue to pursue my request.

   

  Thank you for your assistance!

   

  ** Sunshine Request (www.sunshinerequest.com) makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.

  ---

  Status: Sent to Government
• April 30, 2025 4:04 pm

  1 month ago

  Submitted to Sunshine Request

  ---

  Status: Pending