Other (indicate in message) Submitted: July 5, 2024 | Updated: July 5, 2024

[See Editor’s Note] (July 2024) Submission related to Vance County, NC Schools “out-of-county travel” by “Central Administration Staff”, Modern Teacher related meetings, and communications.

Date sent in to Sunshine: 07/02/24

Original Subject:
Vance County Schools, NC, out-of-county travel by Vance County Schools Central Administration Staff, and ties to Modern Teacher organization

Original Message:
Hello Vance County Schools, Henderson, NC (Records Officer),

I'd like to make a multi-part public records request for the following information under NC Public Records Law.
Ref: https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html

A) provide the out-of-county travel request permission forms, reimbursement request forms, and approved reimbursement payments for out-of-county travel by Vance County Schools Central Administration Staff during the specific time period of 01/01/21 through 12/31/23.

B) provide the finance records reflecting the grant, for-profit vendor or non-profit organization that was the source of direct payment or reimbursement for out-of-county travel for Vance County Schools Central Administration Staff during the specific time period of 01/01/21 through 12/31/23 when the out-of-county travel was not paid entirely by state, local or federal funds.

C) provide the meeting agendas, meeting minutes, conference presentation slides, and conference videos of all Modern Teacher organization events attended by Vance County Schools Central Administration Staff and Vance County Schools board of education members during the specific time period of 01/01/21 through 12/31/23.

D) provide the Emails, SMS text messages, Google Chat messages, and Facebook Messenger messages between Vance County Schools Superintendent Cindy Bennett and The National Council on Modern Learning board members and staff during the specific time period of 01/01/22 through 12/31/23.
https://www.modernteacher.com/council

Thanks for your help.

Government Entity:
Other (indicate in message)

Start Date / End Date:
N/A - N/A. Blank.

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.

Editor’s Note 07/05/24: The submission above has been marked as “Completed”. As written, it is unclear to what specific time period some of the records should apply:

D) provide the Emails, SMS text messages, Google Chat messages, and Facebook Messenger messages between Vance County Schools Superintendent Cindy Bennett and The National Council on Modern Learning board members and staff during the specific time period of 01/01/22 through 12/31/23.” 

Based on the dates of all other items written in the request (01/01/2021 – 12/31/2023), we assume that the sender might have also meant to request that same start date (01/01/2021) in Item D, not “2022” as written.

We apologize if you did mean to request records starting in 2022 and that’s not a mistake. However, since we don’t know how many records a request like that would potentially include — and since the communications you’re seeking cover a 2 year period and aren’t subject matter or keyword specific, we just want to make sure the time period requested is correct.

— When requesting communication records, it’s important to specify the type of communications being requested, who the communications are “sent to”, “sent from”, or “sent between”, and any specific people / staff / departments etc. that should be included. Also, when a request covers a large time period and multiple entities / employees, it’s important to include any specific subject matter or specific keywords that should be included in the search.

— Additionally, please note that we will not fulfill requests for “public safety” type records specific to a single individual, address, incident, or case number. This also applies to requests that may include confidential, sensitive, or personally identifying info about students and their data / families / case #s etc. (if that type of info happens to be contained in any of the responsive records). Please keep this in mind when rewriting the request.

Clarifying this info will help to greatly narrow the scope of the request, and will also reduce the amount of time it takes the Disclosing Agency (as well as our team) to process the request.

Please feel free to revise and submit a new request through our site. Please clearly indicate any specific details, subject matter, message, dates, record types, City / County / State, etc. about the exact public records that are being requested, and to what entity the request is being made.


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Status: Completed

Activity:

  • July 5, 2024 3:53 pm

    2 months ago

    Submitted to Sunshine Request
    Status: Pending