SALINA, KS — A recent Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) request submitted to USD 305 has revealed the complexity and cost associated with obtaining internal communications related to school safety concerns. The request, filed on May 21, 2025, seeks access to any and all correspondence, memos, emails, official notes, or internal documents created, received, or maintained by the district over the past 12 months containing any of the following keywords: violence, bully/bullying, knife, fight, or gun.
The scope of the request includes communications among district staff, school administrators, board members, and external agencies. It covers both digital and handwritten materials.
USD 305 responded with a fee estimate of more than 75 hours of staff time to fulfill the request, with an initial payment of $300 required to begin processing. The district explained that the high labor cost stems from the decentralized nature of the records and the volume of communication that must be manually reviewed for potential redactions.
“Because of the breadth of your request, we will have to ask all staff to provide handwritten communication as that would not be stored in a centralized place,” wrote Deborah Howard, Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and Custodian of District Records.
Key points from the district’s response include:
- Hourly Rate: $44.48 per hour — the rate of the district’s administrative staff responsible for redaction and oversight.
- Data Sources: Includes email archives, personal computer drives, handwritten notes, and hard-copy files from various buildings.
- Redaction Requirements: The district must carefully review documents to remove legally protected information under FERPA and other privacy laws.
- Systems Searched: While some documents reside in centralized databases, many must be gathered manually from individual buildings and staff.
USD 305 explained that while some records are housed in searchable databases, even these must undergo manual review and redaction. A network engineer will be required to run the digital searches across databases and servers. In addition, handwritten or building-level documentation must be requested directly from staff and located individually, as no single system aggregates this information.
Because protected student and employee data is involved, each document, whether electronic or physical, must be reviewed for compliance with privacy laws before being released. This process adds significant labor to even digital record retrieval.
The district confirmed that raw data formats may be provided where feasible, but noted that compiling even raw data requires pre-screening for protected content. They added that if the request were narrowed in scope — either by keyword, date range, or staff group — the district could reduce labor time and costs.
An exact page count was not available, but the district estimated the total could reach into the thousands. USD 305 emphasized that they are not required to create indexes or summaries, and any work related to compiling and reviewing material beyond 15 minutes would be billed to the requester.
Given the breadth of the amount of information that will be received, and a desire to process the data and present it in a way that is informative and easy to follow, Salina311 will release the findings in multiple segments, breaking down timeframes, looking for specific instances.
As of now, no documents have been released. Salina311 will continue to follow the progress of this request and report any updates.