If Tom Parrelley wants his recent request for documents from the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools district satisfied, he needs to come up with nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Parrelley, of Plymouth, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the district asking for a wide range of documents on which school board members based their decision to close school buildings and offer full online education to students. The decision, according to school officials, was in response to the recent advice from the Michigan Department of Health and followed the safety procedures necessary to protect students and staff members in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time of the decision, Superintendent of Schools Monica Merritt said that no matter what the board members opted to do, “someone was going to be unhappy.”
Parrelley expressed his concern with the FOIA request last month. In response, he received a letter with an estimated cost of $222,458.50 for researching, producing and copying the documents as requested.
Parrelley reportedly requested “what science and what facts were used and are continuing to be used” regarding the decision. The response letter from the school district also advised him that half the fee would half to be paid before any work could commence on his request.
Parrelley recently told media sources that fee was beyond his budget.
“I don't have a quarter of a million dollars. I checked the lottery numbers and I have not come through on them yet, which is my next best deal,” he was quoted as saying.
In a prepared statement, the school district said that every Freedom of Information request received is taken seriously. “In this particular matter, the request captured an extremely broad range of potential keyword searches and covered an unbounded timeframe. These features combined to indicate that the district would likely be required to review and redact literally thousands upon thousands of potentially responsive documents.”
Parrelley said he is considering submitting a revised FOIA request asking for more specific documents or the option of taking legal action regarding his original request.
