Michigan school tries to charge mother $33 MILLION to view public records

A Detroit mother is fighting her local school district after being hit with a nearly $33 million lawsuit for trying to access public records.

During Covid-19, the Rochester Community School District was forced to pay nearly $190,000 to parent Elena Dinverno in settlement for allegedly keeping a “file” on her after she criticized their virtual learning policy.

In a lawsuit filed by Dinverno in Rochester, she alleged that district officials called her workplace in 2020 and informed her employer of her activities, which she said caused her to be fired. the Center Square.

Soon after, Elizabeth Clair, mother of a seventh-grader studying in the same district, decided to file a Freedom of Information Act request in 2022.

She wanted to know what the school was doing to “deter future retaliation against parents.” The free press.

The financial analyst had asked to see six months’ worth of emails that contained the word “anti-retaliation.”

In September 2022, Clair finally heard back from FOIA Coordinator Matthew McDaniel, who told her she would have to pay approximately $33,103,232.56 for an employee, who was paid $46 per hour, to review 21,514,288 emails.

The district also requested a good faith deposit of $16,551,616.28 to begin the process.

The district also requested a good faith deposit of $16,551,616.28 to begin the process.

“The District estimates that it will need to review approximately 21,514,288 emails to respond to your request.

“As detailed in the attached cost estimate sheet, this search would cost approximately $33,103,232.56 to complete.

“In accordance with MCL 15.234(8), the District requests that you make a good faith deposit of one-half of the estimated cost of fulfilling your request, which is $16,551,616.28.

“If you choose to make this deposit, the district will provide you with an estimated timeline for completing your request,” the official letter said.

The mother told me later Free press: ‘It’s just absurd. For one person making about $83,000 a year, it would take about 400 years to fulfill that FOIA request.”

But Clair isn’t the only Rochester parent facing a huge bill.

Parent Jessica Opfer was also told she would be charged $25,071,307.16 by the district after she filed a FOIA seeking data on why the district eliminated a language arts curriculum.

The request stated that she wanted to receive “copies of any minutes, presentations, correspondence, emails, letters, WhatsApp messages, images or other written or recorded material in existence between January 2019 and June that contain the words ‘Advanced Language Arts’ contains. 2022′.

“I clearly had no intention of paying these exorbitant fees, and at that moment I felt like I was hitting a wall,” Opfer also told the Press.

In September 2022, Clair finally heard back from FOIA Coordinator Matthew McDaniel, who told her she would have to pay approximately $33,103,232.56 for an employee, who was paid $46 per hour, to review 21,514,288 emails.

After receiving their respective letters, Clair and Opfer tried to negotiate to lower prices, but without success.

Clair had tried to limit her request, but was told by the district that her new request would cost her more than $1,000 — which was “still too high” and a sign that the district was “clearly unwilling to cooperate ‘.

“As taxpayers in the community, as parents who send our children to these institutions every day and entrust our children with them, I believe everything should be transparent,” Clair said. “I don’t understand why this district is fighting us like this.”

“It just makes me think,” she continued, “what are they hiding?”

Lori Grein, a spokesperson for Rochester Community Schools, later noted that both mothers’ requests required enormous amounts of staff time to review material that was not public and had to be redacted.

But in March 2022, mother of two Carol Beth Litkouhi sued the district for denying her request for a curriculum for the History of Ethnic and Gender Studies class.

Lori Grein, a spokesperson for Rochester Community Schools, later noted that both mothers’ requests required enormous amounts of staff time to review material that was not public and had to be redacted

She was told that the district “was not knowingly in possession of any records.

According to the class syllabus, which Litkouhi was given a copy of, “there are supposed to be case studies, readings, and assignments, and nothing came out of it.”

“I thought: this doesn’t make sense,” Litkouhi also told the newspaper Press.

It remains unclear whether Clair and Opfer followed through on their requests or took legal action against the district.

DailyMail,com has contacted the Rochester Community School District for comment.