DPI Ordered to Release Open Records

This is the cultural norm in Wisconsin’s government education establishment. Delay, deflect, deny.

According to the lawsuit, WILL first requested three sets of ESSA-related records in August 2018, then sent a follow-up email the following month. A DPI employee said the request was in progress on Sept. 21, 2018.

WILL deputy counsel Thomas Kamenick followed up again on Nov. 12, and the request was partially fulfilled the following day. Portions of the request were denied for being “insufficiently specific” and “unreasonably burdensome,” and WILL send a narrowed request the following month, which DPI acknowledged on Dec. 13.

The most recent update from DPI, according to the lawsuit, was on Jan. 4, to notify WILL that the request was being worked on as a “priority,” but had been delayed due to the holidays and the election.

“For months, DPI has refused our request to turn over important records about ESSA. To make matters worse, they have no problem sharing these records with school district superintendents and instructing districts to keep them from the public,” Kamenick said in a statement. “Their attempt to hide how they are implementing federal law without proper legal authority should give parents and taxpayers alike cause for concern.”

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0653, 11 February 2019

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Education | Law | Politics - Wisconsin

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6 Comments

Kevin Scheunemann on February 11, 2019 at 7:13 am

That is what liberals do.

It is abuse.
jjf on February 11, 2019 at 9:30 am

No need for partisan assertions. Plenty of records obstruction can be found in every party’s administration, as well as among government entities that aren’t as directly partisan.

I know Tom would agree with me, too.
dad29 on February 11, 2019 at 5:54 pm

IIRC, one of Tony’s first statements as Gov was that he would disobey the law(s) curtailing his authority.

So is DPI’s flagrant obfuscation a surprise?
steveegg on February 11, 2019 at 8:08 pm

Isn’t it grand that the head of that agency got a promotion to governor</sarcasm_heavy>
Merlin on February 11, 2019 at 10:10 pm

They don’t even make an effort to come up with creative excuses. Lazy bastards.
jjf on February 12, 2019 at 8:40 am

Dad29, politics allows a great deal of flexibility in both the statements you can make, and the methods you use to accomplish your goals. The WisGOP didn’t want Evers to have the same powers that they allowed Walker. We’ll see if that power grab sticks. Think of all the ways and places that Evers and Kaul have to do is say “we’re trying our best” and we’ll see if the WisGOP can do anything about it.

As for partisan hiding of open records, let’s not forget the shenanigans that Owen’s fave Alberta Darling has done over the years, especially the buget committee motion 999 in 2015 that would’ve gutted the open records law. Was that a “cultural norm,” too?