Donegal School District’s

Open Records Office (Act 3 of 2008)

Welcome to the Donegal School District Open Records Office website, established in compliance with the Pennsylvania Right to Know law. This new law guarantees United State’s citizens ready access to the public records of public institutions such as Donegal School District. This website is designed to provide the information necessary to request information from the school district.

REQUESTING INFORMATION: If you wish to request district information that is available, or “open”, to the public, please use the “Right to Know Request” form. This form is then submitted, in a written or typed format, to the Donegal School District Open Records Officer. This request may be done:

Ø    via this website, using the website address, above, to submit the electronic form or

Ø    by printing the form and mailing it to the district Business Office or

Ø    by printing the form and personally presenting the written request at the district Business 

       Office  .

RESPONSE TIMELINE: Once the request is received, the district has five (5) business days to respond to the request. At that point, the district must identify whether it will fulfill the request, deny the request or inform the requestor that additional time is needed to research the question. This additional time cannot exceed 30 days from the original date of the request.

INSPECTION OF MATERIALS: If the information is available, or “open” to the public, it will be made available for inspection to the requestor at the Donegal Business Office, during regular business hours of 7:45 am until 3:45 pm, Monday through Friday. The law requires that the district provide the information, for inspection, in the form that it is originally stored.

FEES FOR MATERIALS: All fees for services related to the Open Records Act are set by the Commonwealth. They can be obtained here. 

MATERIAL THAT IS NOT PUBLIC: There is district information that is not public. This information includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Ø      Business and financial matters such as pre-award bid information and insurance communi-

         cations

Ø      Curriculum and academic material including student academic records.

Ø      Facilities and school buildings information that could jeopardize the safety and security of 

         those facilities.

Ø      Employee information including medical, performance, and personal identification of the 

         employees.

Ø      Investigative materials including complaints submitted to the district, working papers of an 

         audit,

Ø      Labor Relations Information including grievances, negotiations working materials

Ø      Pre-Decisional Deliberations including internal, pre-decisional deliberations by and between 

         the district, its school board members and/or employees relating to budget       

         recommendations, legislative proposal or amendment, contemplated or proposed policy or 

         course of action or any research, memos or other documents used in pre-decisional    

         deliberations.

Ø      Privileged Communications with Professionals includes all attorney-client privileged 

         information, as well as communications between student and a school nurse, guidance 

         counselor or other district personnel protected by 42 Pa. C.S.A. 8550.

Ø      Real Estate Appraisals including appraisals, engineering or feasibility estimates, 

         environmental reviews, audits or evaluations made for or by the district relative to the leasing,          acquiring or disposing of real estate or an interest in real property; or the estimates for the     

          purchase of public supplies related to real estate transactions that are given as part of a pre-

         decisional deliberation.

Ø      Student information including academic, medical and personal identification information.

Ø      Computer Technology Information including that information that could likely jeopardize 

         computer security or make the district vulnerable, technologically.

Ø      Confidential/Secret or Proprietary Information shall be excluded if the district has obtained

          an official statement from the owner of the secret/confidential proprietary information that 

          identifies the document at the time the record was submitted to the district as being 

          confidential/secret or proprietary

Ø      Transcripts of Administrative proceedings not held in the public domain.

APPEAL OF DENIAL FOR ACCESS: If the request is denied, the citizen may appeal to the State Office of Open Records. This request must be made, in writing, within fifteen (15) business days. This written request must state the reason the requestor believes the information requested is a public record and state the reason the district has delayed or denied the request.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: To review the Donegal Board of School Director’s Policy and its Administrative Regulations related to the Right to Know Act, click on the provided links.