Earlier this month, students in Mercer University’s Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism sent open records requests to agencies in Macon-Bibb, Houston, Jones and Monroe counties in an effort to check their compliance with Georgia’s law and gauge their accessibility to members of the public. You can see a list of all the grades here.
Agency: Bibb County Schools
Records that were requested: The list of the Steering Committee members, the dates of their meetings, and the itinerary for the meetings.
When do you first hear back from the agency?: I filed the request on Oct. 1 and then sent a follow-up email on Oct. 8. I then received an email back on Oct. 8 stating that they had not received my first email initially, but they would send me the information within the next few days. I then received the response on Oct. 14.
Did agency request a fee? The agency did not request a fee.
Describe the response: The initial response was very apologetic for the initial delay. The second response included the list of documents that I had requested.
Assign a grade for contact/process: I would assign a B. The website had the contact information listed and who would be able to help you out. However this contact information was not for the individual staff member who had these documents but rather the individual who was in charge.
Assign a grade for response: I would assign a B/C. The initial email I sent out was not responded to due to a miscommunication. The recipient said they had not originally received the first email. However, once I had sent a follow-up email, they had immediately responded and directed me to someone who could get the exact information I need. I then received the open records within the same week. The records were detailed with everything I had asked for and they did not ask for any fee.
