Censorship of "Maus"

RE: Records Request Received (via fax 2/7/22)

Please see the email response below submitted on Friday, February 4, 2022 regarding requested information from our agency.

Thank you,

Kim Bivens
Kim Bivens, Assistant to the Director of Schools/Personnel Coordinator
McMinn County Schools
3 South Hill Street
Athens, TN 37303
(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301
Fax: (423) 744-1641
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From: Kim Bivens
Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 6:07 PM
To: requests@muckrock.com
Subject: RE: Tennessee Public Records Act Request: Censorship of "Maus"

Re: McMinn County Schools Public Records Request

Received 2/4/2022

To Whom it May Concern:

The request submitted to our school system was blocked. We will acknowledge receipt of the email request today, Friday, February 4, 2022. Pursuant to the Tennessee Public Records Act, only citizens of Tennessee are entitled to records under the Act. Please send us a copy of a government issued photo identification card demonstrating that you are a Tennessee resident. We will then provide a cost estimate and will begin production after receipt of payment.

Thank you.

MCS Records Custodian

Kim Bivens

Kim Bivens

Personnel Coordinator/Assistant to Director of Schools

McMinn County Schools

3 South Hill Street

Athens, TN 37303

(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301

Fax: (423) 744-1641

MCS Open Request of information

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to acknowledge receipt of the proof of TN citizenship in support of the open records request received. We will now begin the process of producing the requested information along with a determination of labor charges, if applicable, within the required seven (7) day response period. We acknowledge the receipt of the proof of TN citizenship as of Monday, February 14, 2022 and will respond within seven (7) business days of this date.

Thank you.

Kim Bivens
Kim Bivens, Assistant to the Director of Schools/Personnel Coordinator
McMinn County Schools
3 South Hill Street
Athens, TN 37303
(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301
Fax: (423) 744-1641
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Muckrock.com
Attn: Kent Hoover, Requestor of Information

Re: Request of Information-McMinn County Board of Education/McMinn County Schools

This is response to the request of information received on 2/15/22. Please see the attached memo with responses and estimated labor costs for the production of the remaining request of information.
The following link is a shared Microsoft One Drive Folder for the audio recording of the McMinn County Board of Education Called Meeting on 1/10/22.

[?mp3 icon] MCS Audio Recording of 1/10/22 MCBOE called Meeting<https://mcminnschools-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/p/mcs_orr/EbNdxmhuYupFu2J9Xz4g5oQBs2uBLW7jSjPOG18CpgS_Gw?e=y2hQP7>

Upon review, please let me know the desired direction.

Sincerely,

Kim Bivens
MCS Records Custodian

Kim Bivens
Kim Bivens, Assistant to the Director of Schools/Personnel Coordinator
McMinn County Schools
3 South Hill Street
Athens, TN 37303
(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301
Fax: (423) 744-1641
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This message may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please forward the message to technology@mcminnschools.com. If you do not forward the message to us, we cannot determine the problem. All email entering or leaving the McMinn County School's mail server is archived and checked for content and security. All messages are checked for viruses before entering or leaving our server. Spam, viruses, dangerous attachments, and offensive content are automatically removed. The McMinn County School System does not discriminate in employment, admission, or participation in educational programs based on race, color, gender, age, national origin, religion, or disability. Excellence in Action www.mcminnschools.com

I am working with our team to produce an estimate and will get this back to you before the end of the day.
​Kim Bivens, Exec. Assistant/Office of Director
McMinn County Schools
3 South Hill Street Athens, TN 37303
(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301
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Attn: Kent Hoover
Muckrock.com

Mr. Hoover:

This is in response to the updated request of information received for item 4.

Requested Item 4: Any records relating to complaints or concerns by parents, students, community members, or Board members, with respect to "Maus". This request includes but is not limited to records relating to efforts to redact content of "Maus."

Initial Response:

Due to the amount of time to produce the information requested, the following is an estimate of labor costs. This includes the launching of database searches through Microsoft eDiscovery of all email accounts to open and convert the information to adobe files to properly secure the sharing and review of the requested information. This is taking into consideration the email recovery of staff, principals, supervisors, and school board members of complaints received and efforts relating to redact content of "Maus". Cost estimate also includes perusing produced files for protected employee and student personal information and redacting of this information. We are not producing certain emails sent to or from our school board attorney on the grounds of attorney/client privilege. Throughout the responses, we will redact employee confidential information and student information as indicated in TCA 10.7.504(f) i.e. employee phone numbers, student information, images.

Updated Response:

The estimate of labor costs initially submitted included launching a database search that would produce and streamline information for both requests of information listed in Items 2 & 4. For item #2, we would request the desired information of our administrators, supervisors, and instructional staff regarding complaints and concerns of instructional materials received on/after September 1, 2021, through the date of the initially acknowledged request of 2/14/22. In the event nothing is produced, we estimated to launch a more exhaustive search of our email accounts which would also include the database search term "Maus". In response to your updated request of information listed in item 4, a database search would still be launched and reviewed for any redactable information. Additionally, our school board members are not issued a government email account and do not reside in our office; therefore, we will need to coordinate the request with individual members of the board of education.

We anticipate producing records for item 4 only would incur the following estimate of hours and labor costs:

Estimate of Labor Cost
Technology Department: Employee #1 $37.27/hour x 7 hours: $260.89
Employee #2 $26.35/hour x 7 hours: $184.45
Administrative Staff: Employee #1 $49.74/hour x 7 hours: $348.18
Employee #2 $49.74/hour x 7 hours: $348.18
Employee #3 $26.89/hour x 7 hours: $188.23
Total cost estimate: $1329.93
(less 1 hour threshold of $49.74) $1280.19

Upon receipt of payment, we will proceed with producing the request of information.

Sincerely,

Kim Bivens

Kim Bivens
Kim Bivens, Assistant to the Director of Schools/Personnel Coordinator
McMinn County Schools
3 South Hill Street
Athens, TN 37303
(423) 745-1612, ext. 1301
Fax: (423) 744-1641
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