Editor’s Note: Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Other (indicate in message) Submitted: October 12, 2023 | Updated: November 8, 2023
(October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.
Good Evening Lane (or GCS Records Officer / Custodian(s) of these Records), all others CCed,
There continue to be issues / inefficiencies with the way your Next Request Records Portal is set up, and I’ve personally had many issues submitting requests to GCS over the past year. It is not currently possible to login, send a follow up message, or even view the status of a request in the portal. Also, the [email protected] email address continues to throw "bounceback errors", indicating the address either no longer exists, the mailbox is full, or there’s another issue with the account.
I’m also aware from another unrelated email between myself and Lane Brown on 10/05 that “... the primary records position has been vacant for some time. A new staff member has been hired this week.” Therefore, I’m submitting my request to you all directly so that it’s sure to be received:
SUBJECT
(October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.
MESSAGE
Please reply promptly to the following public records request, which is being made in accordance with NC Public Records Law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html
** 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 should already exist). I do not have any further clarifying info I wish to provide to narrow this request. If the request is unclear, or 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.**
The type of basic salary data I’m requesting is simple to provide, is very commonly produced, and is widely considered a matter of public record as part of the public personnel file of school employees. Many school systems around the state fulfill requests like this via email in 1 week, and in many cases 1 day.
Please provide the names and salaries of ALL current Guilford County, NC Schools system Employees / Staff and their salaries, as of 10/12/2023 or present day [on the date the query is performed]. Please include the following:
1) Employee first / last name
2) Date of Hire
3) Position / Title / Department
4) Salary (including hourly wage, hourly rate, or salary -- whichever payment structure is applicable to the employee)
Ideally, I’d like to receive these records in an Excel or machine-readable format. If any / all of this info is already publicly available online, please provide a link to where it can be accessed.
————————————
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 explanations for 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, but 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 from the email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me or my Team. 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: Completed
Documents:
Activity:
-
November 8, 2023 1:06 pm
5 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: c0f376e9-ce2d-4cb7-a55a-32a9910d9737.GuilfordCountySchoolsNC@request.justfoia.com
cc: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
date: Nov 8, 2023, 1:06 PM
subject: Re: PRR-161-2023Hi Lane,
Excellent — Thanks very much for your assistance with the request!
I reviewed the document you’ve sent, and I will now mark this request as “Completed” on our site.
————I’m happy to now provide answers to the “user feedback questions” you sent me on October 24th. Please see copied below. My answers are in bold:
“Thank you for this further guidance.
The JustFOIA technical support desk shared the following guidance with us regarding the issues reported today and previously:
JustFOIA does allow requesters to track request status on the portal using the Track Status feature below. The records response email you received today, and included below, provides the request number and the site key to enter into the appropriate fields on the tracking form – please see the screenshot:
While we realize that you do not have to respond to the following questions, we would really appreciate your time and feedback to help us better understand the issues you are encountering:
I’d like to preface my answers with this note:
Some of my initial issues over the past few years in submitting requests to GCS were mainly around the process with fulfillment on the part of whomever was the records officer and/or person(s) responsible for processing requests, and how they were responding to my emails. It was a very inefficient process. On several occasions I didn’t receive any response at all, or I had to follow up numerous times, and in some cases ultimately marked requests as having been “Denied” without a response. An unjustified 1 month delay in the processing of a request, or a non-response to emails, is tantamount to a denial.
Additionally, I had been told on at least 1 occasion that there would be fees for a certain GCS request — this didn’t make sense as it was being described to me, and was not really in accordance with NC Records Law … but I would not like to revisit that issue now. I’ll just say that all policies about records requests should be clear on your website, and any records officers or custodians of records should be able to clearly explain specific justifications / calculations for assessing potential service charges upfront.
1. Could you please share what happens when you enter the request number and site key in the tracking fields, as described above?
2. JustFOIA does provide a link in the email below that takes requesters to the responsive documents. This link works for other requesters – could you please share guidance on what happens when you click on that link?Although I have submitted requests to GCS through their Request page several times before, I did not do so in this particular case because of the issues I continue to experience with the fulfillment process for my requests. However, I can see that someone on the GCS Team did enter my request into your system themselves on October 23rd … and at that time I received the following email:
from: JustFOIA Notification <[email protected]>
to: [email protected]
date: Oct 23, 2023, 9:44 AM
subject: Guilford County Schools Records Request Confirmation
Thank you for submitting a request for records to Guilford County Schools.
Your request reference number is Request Number: PRR-161-2023.
Please have this reference number available when communicating with our staff regarding your request.
Note: This is an automated email notification. Please do not respond to this email.I didn’t receive a “security key” via email, so it’s not possible to Track the Status of this completed request (since I’m prompted to enter a security key, and it’s a mandatory field). I don’t think I’m mistaken when I say that I also have never actually received a “security key” at any other time when I’ve submitted other requests through the GCS page.
Another inefficiency is that it isn’t possible for anyone other than the requester, or someone with access to the Request’s direct link or Request number, to Track the Status of a request.
As the requester, I do happen to now have a direct link to the Request via the email above, so I can just click it and get to the request that way. However, this is obviously not efficient, since no one but myself has any way of finding that request on your site. It’s supposed to be public, and so I would expect that the Public can also access or look up requests that have already been completed — without having to know an exact Records # or a Security Key to find them — or even to submit a duplicate request.
It is unclear what the point of a mandatory Security Key is, if requesters aren’t even able to set up an Account, or communicate with the JustFOIA address right there on their Request’s page. It doesn’t seem to be necessary, in my opinion. If you “forget” your security key, or if you never have one in the first place, I understand that there’s a “forgot security key” button (which I have never used), but that hardly seems necessary to have to use in order to check the status of a public request.
3. The Guilford County/JustFOIA email address you mentioned previously ([email protected]) is not one that GCS or JustFOIA recognizes – do you recall where on our website you encountered this email address?
Unless I’m mistaken, I think the first Public Records Request I made to GCS was on August 04, 2020 (Request Number: PRR-28-2020). In that case, I did use your online form to submit my request. And then on August 08, 2020 I received an email about the request to me directly from:
Margaret Winslow (Guilford County Schools, NC) <[email protected]>
Margaret Winslow, Director of Policy Development, Guilford County SchoolsThat same address was still in use throughout our communications through the end of 2020 — and then again, via another unrelated exchange I sent to GCS’s portal about a new request in September 2021. That new request unfortunately had to be marked as “Denied” in January 2022 when it continued to go unanswered despite months of follow up. I eventually did receive a reply from Jose on November 08, 2022 from that same address:
from: José Oliva (Guilford County Schools, NC) <[email protected]>
I didn’t start getting “blocked” errors about that specific address, until I had written back to Jose later in November 2022, still while trying to communicate about that same request. I received the following:
from: Mail Delivery Subsystem <[email protected]>
date: Nov 29, 2022, 3:12 PM
subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
Message blocked
Your message to [email protected] has been blocked. See technical details below for more information.
The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. AS(201806281) [DM3NAM02FT064.eop-nam02.prod.protection.outlook.com]I could go on about other times when this address was used, but broadly I think I probably started using that address when Margaret emailed me in 2020. It’s possible it was also listed as a “contact” address someplace on your site as well.
4. The Next Request portal mentioned below is also something that is not recognized. Could you please share guidance on this web location as well? Is the New Request box in the screenshot above what is being referenced? To clarify, that box does not link requesters to tracking services – those are available using the Track feature.
I apologize that I’ve been mispeaking when calling your request portal “Next Request”. Many entities around NC, SC, and beyond use the Next Request system for submitting / fulfilling public records requests. Some entities I’ve seen also use the “ONEREQUEST” system. I should have called this your “JUSTFOIA” Portal, since I see now that is the system GCS uses.
I suspect though, that just like the other record fulfillment platforms, it is possible for GCS to also enable settings within JustFoia that would allow users to create an account, or login in to view their requests, send a direct message about a request etc. That would make this process way more efficient, and it would be in line with how other entities around the state process requests.
Thank you. We are continuing the conversation with JustFOIA to improve the platform. I appreciate your taking time to help us pinpoint these issues.”
Thank you for taking time to read all of this! 🙂
Have a great afternoon.
~ The Sunshine Request Team
**Editor’s Note: If it’s not displaying correctly on this page, you can also see the screenshot we referenced to Lane (“image002“) at top left in our “Documents” section. It’s just a copy of an image Lane already sent us in a previous email.
Status: Completed -
November 8, 2023 8:44 am
5 months ago
from: Brown, Lane <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Nov 8, 2023, 8:44 AM
subject: RE: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good morning,
This information has been provided through the JustFOIA portal via email with the subject line PRR-161-2023.
Thank you,
Lane
Lane Harvey Brown, PMP, CFRE
Senior Director of Public Affairs and Philanthropy
Chief of Staff’s Office
Guilford County Schools
712 North Eugene Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Direct office: (336) 370-3201
Cell: (336) 451-7046
VoIP ext.: 735201
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Status: Government Processing Request -
November 8, 2023 8:43 am
5 months ago
from: Lane Brown (Guilford County Schools, NC) <[email protected]>
reply-to: c0f376e9-ce2d-4cb7-a55a-32a9910d9737.GuilfordCountySchoolsNC@request.justfoia.com
to: [email protected]
date: Nov 8, 2023, 8:43 AM
subject: PRR-161-2023Good morning,
Please see documents responsive to PRR-161-2023, attached.
Thank you,
Lane Brown, Senior Director of Public Affairs and Philanthropy
**Editor’s Note: Please see the 1 file referenced (“PRR-161-2023.xlsx”) at top left in our Documents section.
Status: Response Received from Government -
November 7, 2023 10:17 am
5 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Nov 7, 2023, 10:17 AM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Hi Lane,
I’m following up on your previous email (in regard to my Public Records Request # PRR-161-2023)
Please let me know when you anticipate you’ll be able to provide me with the employees’ Dates of Hire as requested.
I’ll follow up again in 1 week, if I don’t hear anything else before then.
Thank you!
Status: Follow up -
October 31, 2023 12:44 pm
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 31, 2023, 12:44 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Thank you Lane!
I’ll follow up again in 1 week, if I haven’t heard anything else.
Have a good afternoon!
Status: Government Processing Request -
October 31, 2023 12:29 pm
6 months ago
from: Brown, Lane <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 31, 2023, 12:29 PM
subject: RE: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good afternoon,
Thank you for your follow-up. I submitted a request on Monday to have the data pulled again for the date and additional information requested. This revision is in process.
Thank you,
Lane
Lane Harvey Brown, PMP, CFRE
Senior Director of Public Affairs and Philanthropy
Chief of Staff’s Office
Guilford County Schools
712 North Eugene Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Direct office: (336) 370-3201
Cell: (336) 451-7046
VoIP ext.: 735201
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Click here to see GCS on DonorsChoose and support a teacher project today!
Status: Government Processing Request -
October 31, 2023 11:59 am
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 31, 2023, 11:59 AM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good afternoon Lane (and all others CCed),
My public records request was submitted to you all on October 12 @ 6:18PM. It asked for:
Please provide the names and salaries of ALL current Guilford County, NC Schools system Employees / Staff and their salaries, as of 10/12/2023 or present day [on the date the query is performed]. Please include the following:
1) Employee first / last name
2) Date of Hire
3) Position / Title / Department
4) Salary (including hourly wage, hourly rate, or salary — whichever payment structure is applicable to the employee)The type of basic salary data I’ve requested is simple to provide, is very commonly produced, and is widely considered a matter of public record as part of the public personnel file of school employees. Many school systems around the state fulfill requests like this via email in 1 week, and in many cases 1 day.
I’m following up again to ask that you please clarify whether or not the document provided to me on 10/24/23 was actually up-to-date and accurate as of that date (the present day / date the query was performed)... despite the document’s title which just said “July 2023”. If that data was not accurate / up-to-date as of 10/24/23, then please provide the responsive records to me now as of today’s date, 10/31/23.
Also, please provide the employees’ dates of hire as requested.
I will make one more attempt to follow up in 1 week, if I do not hear back before then.
Thank you.
~ The Sunshine Request Team
Status: Follow up -
October 24, 2023 7:07 pm
6 months ago
from: Brown, Lane <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 24, 2023, 7:07 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Yes, absolutely. I will follow up on these questions in the morning and share follow-up. Thank you.
Sent from my iPhone
Status: Follow up -
October 24, 2023 6:46 pm
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 24, 2023, 6:46 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Hi Lane,
Thanks for your reply.
I will be happy to provide further guidance / user experience answers to the questions above. However, I’d like to ask first that we please focus on resolving the initial records request, so that it can be completed.
I’d like to know if you can please clarify whether the document provided to me today is up-to-date and accurate as of today’s date (the present day / date the query was performed), despite its title which says “July 2023”. And, if you can please provide the date of hire as requested that would be great.
Thank you!
Status: Clarification Requested -
October 24, 2023 6:40 pm
6 months ago
from: Brown, Lane <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 24, 2023, 6:40 PM
subject: RE: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good afternoon,
Thank you for this further guidance.
The JustFOIA technical support desk shared the following guidance with us regarding the issues reported today and previously:
JustFOIA does allow requesters to track request status on the portal using the Track Status feature below. The records response email you received today, and included below, provides the request number and the site key to enter into the appropriate fields on the tracking form – please see the screenshot:
While we realize that you do not have to respond to the following questions, we would really appreciate your time and feedback to help us better understand the issues you are encountering:
1. Could you please share what happens when you enter the request number and site key in the tracking fields, as described above?
2. JustFOIA does provide a link in the email below that takes requesters to the responsive documents. This link works for other requesters – could you please share guidance on what happens when you click on that link?
3. The Guilford County/JustFOIA email address you mentioned previously ([email protected]) is not one that GCS or JustFOIA recognizes – do you recall where on our website you encountered this email address?
4. The Next Request portal mentioned below is also something that is not recognized. Could you please share guidance on this web location as well? Is the New Request box in the screenshot above what is being referenced? To clarify, that box does not link requesters to tracking services – those are available using the Track feature.Thank you. We are continuing the conversation with JustFOIA to improve the platform. I appreciate your taking time to help us pinpoint these issues.
Best,
Lane
Lane Harvey Brown, PMP, CFRE
Senior Director of Public Affairs and Philanthropy
Chief of Staff’s Office
Guilford County Schools
712 North Eugene Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Direct office: (336) 370-3201
Cell: (336) 451-7046
Cisco ext.: 735201
Pronouns: She, her, hers
Click here to see GCS on DonorsChoose and support a teacher project today!
Status: Response Received from Government -
October 24, 2023 4:58 pm
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 24, 2023, 4:58 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Hello again Lane, and all others CCed,
Since the time of my last email to you on 10/13, I received a notice that someone on your team entered my request into your Next Request portal on 10/23. (Request # PRR-161-2023)
I received the following message today about my request:
from: JustFOIA Notification <[email protected]>
to: [email protected]
date: Oct 24, 2023, 11:57 AM
subject: Guilford County Schools Records Request PRR-161-2023 CompletedHello ,
Please click this link to access your documents Request Number: PRR-161-2023.
If you choose to manually access this request, please go to our website under the request portal and select ‘Track Status’.
PRR-161-2023 is the tracking number.
247574 is the site key (passcode).
Thank you,
Guilford County Schools*Note: This is an automated email notification. Please do not respond to this email.
———-
Once again — due to the way GCS currently has their Next Request page set up (certain settings / features available to you are not being utilized), there is no way for requesters to create an account, login to see their request, or to contact you via the Next Request Portal, etc. And therefore, I must once again follow up with you here directly via email to ask you to clarify the following.
My public records request was submitted to you all on October 12 @ 6:18PM. It asked for..
Please provide the names and salaries of ALL current Guilford County, NC Schools system Employees / Staff and their salaries, as of 10/12/2023 or present day [on the date the query is performed]. Please include the following:
1) Employee first / last name
2) Date of Hire
3) Position / Title / Department
4) Salary (including hourly wage, hourly rate, or salary — whichever payment structure is applicable to the employee)The title of the spreadsheet file I received today indicates that the records are responsive as of “July 2023”. Also, the file does not include item #2 (date of hire) as requested. Can you please clarify whether the data provided is up-to-date and is accurate as of 10/24/23 (the date the query was actually performed)? And, can you please provide the dates of hire as requested?
I will follow up again in 1 week, if I do not hear anything else.
Thank you.
~ The Sunshine Request Team
Status: Clarification Requested -
October 24, 2023 11:57 am
6 months ago
from: JustFOIA Notification <[email protected]>
to: [email protected]
date: Oct 24, 2023, 11:57 AM
subject: Guilford County Schools Records Request PRR-161-2023 CompletedHello,
Please click this link to access your documents Request Number: PRR-161-2023.
If you choose to manually access this request, please go to our website under the request portal and select ‘Track Status’.
PRR-161-2023 is the tracking number.
247574 is the site key (passcode).
Thank you,
Guilford County Schools*Note: This is an automated email notification. Please do not respond to this email.
**Editor’s Note: Please see the 1 file referenced (“Records_Request_Download_PRR-161-2023_2023-10-24-13-59-35.zip”) at top left in our Documents section.
Status: Response Received from Government -
October 23, 2023 9:44 am
6 months ago
from: JustFOIA Notification <[email protected]>
to: [email protected]
date: Oct 23, 2023, 9:44 AM
subject: Guilford County Schools Records Request ConfirmationThank you for submitting a request for records to Guilford County Schools.
Your request reference number is Request Number: PRR-161-2023.
Please have this reference number available when communicating with our staff regarding your request.
Note: This is an automated email notification. Please do not respond to this email.
Status: Government Processing Request -
October 13, 2023 3:47 pm
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>
cc: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 13, 2023, 3:47 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Hi Lane,
I understand that you would prefer that I re-submit the request to the Next Request Portal.
However, I have explicitly addressed this request to the Custodian(s) of these Records — finance, etc. and have emailed them directly as the custodians. Therefore, I believe that by Law the custodians of these records are required to fulfill the request as written, and they can / should proceed to fulfill it without making me resubmit it in another format.
It has been submitted to you all (the custodians of the records) as of 10/12/23 at 6:18PM.
If you have any additional questions about this, I will be happy to respond to you upon my return to the office during the week of 10/23.
Thank you!
~ The Sunshine Request Team
Status: Sent to Government -
October 13, 2023 3:25 pm
6 months ago
from: Brown, Lane <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>, “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>
cc: “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 13, 2023, 3:25 PM
subject: RE: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good afternoon,
We appreciate this feedback as we work through several issues with our public records system. We met with JustFOIA this week and are working on a review of features available to requesters, including the ones below.
We correspond with other PRR requesters through the JustFOIA platform regularly, so we are not sure the cause of the issues you are experiencing and have reached out to JustFOIA for guidance.
GCS receives public records requests through the JustFOIA platform and does not receive requests any longer by email. Please submit the request below through the JustFOIA platform.
Thank you,
Lane
Lane Harvey Brown, PMP, CFRE
Senior Director of Public Affairs and Philanthropy
Chief of Staff’s Office
Guilford County Schools
712 North Eugene Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
Direct office: (336) 370-3201
Cell: (336) 451-7046
VoIP ext.: 735201
Pronouns: She, her, hers
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Status: Response Received from Government -
October 13, 2023 11:13 am
6 months ago
from: Lewis, Tracey L <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
date: Oct 13, 2023, 11:13 AM
subject: Automatic reply: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.This e-mail is for the sole use of the individual for whom it is intended. If you are neither the intended recipient nor agent responsible for delivering this e-mail to the intended recipient, any disclosure, retransmission, copying, or taking action in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the person transmitting the information immediately. All e-mail correspondence to and from this e-mail address may be subject to NC Public Records Law which results in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. In compliance with federal laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Guilford County Schools administers all educational programs, employment activities and admissions without unlawful discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age, military affiliation, disability, pregnancy, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Refer to the Board of Education’s Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying Policy 1710/4021/7230 for a complete statement. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Guilford County Schools Compliance Officer, 120 Franklin Boulevard, Greensboro, NC 27401; 336-370-8154
Status: Clarification Provided -
October 13, 2023 11:12 am
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>
cc: “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 13, 2023, 11:12 AM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Hi Jose,
Thanks for your message.
The Next Request link works — in the sense that you can submit requests through it — however, the way GCS currently has it set up (settings / features you haven’t taken advantage of), does not allow requesters to create an account, login to see their request, contact you via the Next Request Portal, etc.
Therefore, for quite some time, it has been necessary to send direct emails to you or others at GCS, any time I have to follow up about a request, or need to get a response about the status. There is literally no other way to do it within Next Request.
Many other entities that utilize Next Request, have it set up in such a way that requestors can actually login to see the status of a request, make a request, send emails / follow ups etc.
As of the last time I submitted a request to GCS, this feature still has not been utilized. Lane Brown and I have discussed this.
In any case — Now that I have submitted the request above to the Custodian(s) of these records, I’m asking you to please proceed to fulfill the request.
Thank you.
~ The Sunshine Request Team
Status: Clarification Provided -
October 12, 2023 7:03 pm
6 months ago
from: Oliva, Jose <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Records, Public” <[email protected]>, “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, “Coker, Alison R” <[email protected]>, Superintendent <[email protected]>, “Yarbrough, Lindsay W” <[email protected]>, “Lewis, Tracey L” <[email protected]>, “Thompson, Chapel D” <[email protected]>
date: Oct 12, 2023, 7:03 PM
subject: Re: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good evening,
I hope you are well. The website was working today. Are you saying it is not allowing you to submit a records request right now?
Jose
Sent from my iPhone
This e-mail is for the sole use of the individual for whom it is intended. If you are neither the intended recipient nor agent responsible for delivering this e-mail to the intended recipient, any disclosure, retransmission, copying, or taking action in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the person transmitting the information immediately. All e-mail correspondence to and from this e-mail address may be subject to NC Public Records Law which results in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. In compliance with federal laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Guilford County Schools administers all educational programs, employment activities and admissions without unlawful discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age, military affiliation, disability, pregnancy, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Refer to the Board of Education’s Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying Policy 1710/4021/7230 for a complete statement. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Guilford County Schools Compliance Officer, 120 Franklin Boulevard, Greensboro, NC 27401; 336-370-8154
Status: Clarification Requested -
October 12, 2023 6:19 pm
6 months ago
from: Records, Public <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
date: Oct 12, 2023, 6:19 PM
subject: Automatic reply: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.This email address is no longer used for JustFOIA requests. Your JustFOIA requests must now be made at https://www.gcsnc.com/Page/63707. Please copy the web address to your browser for a Public Records request. This e-mail is for the sole use of the individual for whom it is intended. If you are neither the intended recipient nor agent responsible for delivering this e-mail to the intended recipient, any disclosure, retransmission, copying, or taking action in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the person transmitting the information immediately. All e-mail correspondence to and from this e-mail address may be subject to NC Public Records Law which results in monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement. In compliance with federal laws, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Guilford County Schools administers all educational programs, employment activities and admissions without unlawful discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age, military affiliation, disability, pregnancy, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation. Refer to the Board of Education’s Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Bullying Policy 1710/4021/7230 for a complete statement. Inquiries or complaints should be directed to the Guilford County Schools Compliance Officer, 120 Franklin Boulevard, Greensboro, NC 27401; 336-370-8154
Status: Sent to Government -
October 12, 2023 6:18 pm
6 months ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Records, Public” <[email protected]>
cc: “Brown, Lane” <[email protected]>, “Oliva, Jose” <[email protected]>, “Morrison, Shirley D” <[email protected]>, [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
date: Oct 12, 2023, 6:18 PM
subject: Public records request. (October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.Good Evening Lane (or GCS Records Officer / Custodian(s) of these Records), all others CCed,
There continue to be issues / inefficiencies with the way your Next Request Records Portal is set up, and I’ve personally had many issues submitting requests to GCS over the past year. It is not currently possible to login, send a follow up message, or even view the status of a request in the portal. Also, the [email protected] email address continues to throw “bounceback errors”, indicating the address either no longer exists, the mailbox is full, or there’s another issue with the account.
I’m also aware from another unrelated email between myself and Lane Brown on 10/05 that “… the primary records position has been vacant for some time. A new staff member has been hired this week.” Therefore, I’m submitting my request to you all directly so that it’s sure to be received:
SUBJECT
(October 2023) Request for Guilford County, NC Schools: List of all employees and salaries, as of the present day.MESSAGE
Please reply promptly to the following public records request, which is being made in accordance with NC Public Records Law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html** 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 should already exist). I do not have any further clarifying info I wish to provide to narrow this request. If the request is unclear, or 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.**
The type of basic salary data I’m requesting is simple to provide, is very commonly produced, and is widely considered a matter of public record as part of the public personnel file of school employees. Many school systems around the state fulfill requests like this via email in 1 week, and in many cases 1 day.
Please provide the names and salaries of ALL current Guilford County, NC Schools system Employees / Staff and their salaries, as of 10/12/2023 or present day [on the date the query is performed]. Please include the following:
1) Employee first / last name
2) Date of Hire
3) Position / Title / Department
4) Salary (including hourly wage, hourly rate, or salary — whichever payment structure is applicable to the employee)Ideally, I’d like to receive these records in an Excel or machine-readable format. If any / all of this info is already publicly available online, please provide a link to where it can be accessed.
————————————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 explanations for 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, but 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 28816The request has been sent solely from the email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me or my Team. 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 -
October 12, 2023 6:12 pm
6 months ago
Submitted to Sunshine Request
Status: Pending