PR 99-04 (1999).

• Case Date: April 09, 1999
• Court: Rhode Island

Rhode Island Attorney General Opinions 1999. PR 99-04 (1999). State of Rhode IslandDepartment of the Attorney GeneralPR 99-04 (1999)PR 99-04 Offer v. R.I. Department of EducationUnofficial Finding PR 99-04April 9, 1999Mr. David B. OfferThe Newport Daily NewsNewport, RI 02840Re: Offer v. R.I. Department of EducationOur File No.: PR 99-0160 Dear Mr. Offer, The investigation with respect to your Access to Public Records Act ("APRA") complaint against the Rhode Island Department of Education (hereinafter "Department") is complete. You believe that the Department violated the APRA by failing to provide you with the "number of teachers in each town or city in the State who have been granted special provisional certificates." In your correspondence with this office, you provided a letter, dated February 5, 1999, in which a request to the Department, made by the Newport Daily News, was denied. At that time, Marisa Quinn, Chief of Communication and Public Information at the Department, informed you that "small sample sizes in some communities could cause the release of information regarding the specific number of teachers who did not successfully complete the examination, ..., to become personally identifiable." You were further informed, that "only general information (such as "less than five") is made available regarding teacher certification exam results in particular communities...." In pursuit of our investigation, we received the Department's written response to your complaint, in which Jennifer Wood, Esquire, Attorney for the Department, explained that your request was denied because : In some towns, there are only one or two teachers who are working with a provisional certificate. In some of the same towns, there were only one or two teachers hired in this past year. By simple deductive reasoning...the individual teacher becomes personally identifiable, and the teacher's privacy rights are violated...." David Offer April 9, 1999 Page 2 of 4 Ms. Wood further provided that "when most teachers take the National Teachers Exam, they are students and thus the results of their efforts are protected under R.I Gen. Laws §38-2-2(A)(I) as "student performance" information. The APRA provides that all records maintained or kept on file by any public body shall be records , accessible to every person, R.I. Gen.Laws §38-2-3(a). However, the APRA...