Southwest Tennessee Community College Nursing Index Scores

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Tennessee's Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

A complete copy of the list showing index scores for students who applied to the Southwest Tennessee Community College Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 nursing programs.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

If you choose to redact any portion of any documents responsive to this request, please provide a written explanation for the redaction including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. Also, please provide all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Carlton Purvis

Ms. Studaway,

I am familiar with FERPA, and with the Tennessee Open Records act, and with the exemption that you mentioned, however, it's not immediately clear to me how it applies to this request as this document does not meet the FERPA definition of an education record or exempt material by Tennessee law.

What I have requested is the document showing index scores which are in no way indicative of a student's academic performance as there is no way to know what points contributed to the final score.

This request is not for any student identifying information. And based on FERPA definitions, index scores do not fall under the definition of identifiable information anyway, which includes things like a student's name, address, student ID number, or social security number.

In fact, these documents fall into a category of documents that are releasable, according to FERPA -- Documents "made and maintained in the normal course of business."

FERPA, which was created to protect the privacy of individuals, defines "education records" as documents "directly related to a student." This document is not directly related to any specific student. Rather it is a summary produced for review by admissions personnel in the normal course of making admissions determinations.

It's not clear how the state exemption would apply in the way you mention. To use the examples cited by the state, "a student’s academic performance record" or a specific student's grades would be exempt from release. Likewise, information on "academic performance, financial status of a student or the student's parent or guardian, medical or psychological treatment" is exempt from release. What I have requested is the summary of index scores which is in no way indicative of a single student's academic performance as there is no way to know what points contributed to the final score or what student the score belonged to.

If this document does have student specific information, I ask that you please redact that information, because that information is not what is being sought by this request. The statute does say "information not identified with a particular student may be released to any person."

I don't believe redaction would be an excessive burden as both documents are less than ten pages long each.

Please let me know an estimate for when this information will be released or available for inspection or a time that we would be able to discuss this further by phone or in person.

Thank you,

Carlton Purvis

Ms. Studaway,

Thank you for returning my message and providing me an update on the status of this request and letting me know that it is currently being reviewed by the school's legal department.

Carlton

Good afternoon,

Just checking in on the status of this request. I haven't heard anything back from admissions or the legal department.

Thanks,

Carlton

Good afternoon,

Just checking the status of this request. I haven't heard anything from yourself or the legal department.

Carlton

On Fri, May 22, 2015, at 06:00 PM, Carlton Purvis wrote:

Heather,

Thank you for your response. I hope that your reply will include the records or you will at least be willing set up times to make them available for inspection.

I am prepared to argue based on past case law that index scores are not student records as defined by FERPA. Not to mention I've already asked that any student identifying information (as defined by FERPA) be redacted.

As for the Clery Act reports, I have no idea why the school is so reluctant to provide them. It's all information that has been released before.

Thanks,

Carlton

On Fri, May 22, 2015, at 04:09 PM, Heather Stewart wrote:

Carlton,
I will have you an answer before 3pm today.

Heather C. Stewart
Associate General Counsel
Tennessee Board of Regents
1415 Murfreesboro Road
Nashville, Tennessee 37217
Phone: 615.366.3933
Fax: 615.366.3910
Email: heather.stewart@tbr.edu

__________________________
On Friday, May 22, 2015, at 11:08 AM, Carlton Purvis wrote:

Good morning,

I've followed your instructions and no one has returned my calls, emails or text messages. I think it's pretty clear at this point that these requests are just going to continue to be ignored. This email is just to inform you that I am working on a complaint for injunctive relief and I will keep you all informed of when I file. Hopefully, the courts can help motivate someone to take the time to respond to these requests.

Thank you,

Carlton Purvis

--

On Sun, May 3, 2015, at 09:12 PM, Carlton Purvis wrote:

Hey Heather, just checking in on that status of those two requests. I hadn't heard anything back from the school on either.

Carlton

--

On Mon, Apr 13, 2015, at 12:57 PM, Heather Stewart wrote:
Can you call me on my cell phone? My number is ***– ***–****.

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 13, 2015, at 7:13 AM, "Carlton Purvis" wrote:

The text of the two requests I sent are copied below. And you can see the history of each and correspondence so far by clicking the links.

Thank you for your help,

Carlton Purvis

CLERY ACT REPORTS:
To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Tennessee's Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

A complete copy of the annual security reports as required by the Clery Act for the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request and arrange for inspection of the requested records.

However, I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,
Carlton Purvis

Please use this email address for correspondence on this request: 15646-98928165@muckrock.com

NURSING CANDIDATE INDEX SCORES

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to Tennessee's Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

A complete copy of the list showing index scores for students who applied to the Southwest Tennessee Community College Spring 2014 and Fall 2014 nursing programs.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

If you choose to redact any portion of any documents responsive to this request, please provide a written explanation for the redaction including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. Also, please provide all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Carlton Purvis

Please use this email address for correspondence on this request: 15852-91468938@muckrock.com

--

----- Original message -----
From: "Miller, Robert G." <rgmiller1@southwest.tn.edu>
To: Carlton Purvis , Heather.Stewart@tbr.edu
Cc: "Nippert, Karen F." <knippert@southwest.tn.edu>, "Thomas, Paul D." <pthomas@southwest.tn.edu>
Subject: RE: Southwest Tennessee Community College: Public Records Release Issues
Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2015 16:07:09 -0500 (CDT)

You’re welcome Mr. Purvis. For public records requests, you can contact our Executive Director for Human Resources Paul Thomas and/or Ms. Nippert referenced below.

Robert G. Miller
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Southwest Tennessee Community College

From: Carlton Purvis
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 3:58 PM
To: Miller, Robert G.; Heather.Stewart@tbr.edu
Cc: Nippert, Karen F.
Subject: Re: Southwest Tennessee Community College: Public Records Release Issues

Mr. Miller,

Thank you for your response. The link you provided is the same link Ms. Reel sent me. However, what I requested was the entire set of reports from 2010-2014, not only the statistics.

Based on the school's own document retention/destruction policies there should be more than just the one report.

While I have your ear, who is the official point of contact for public records requests at Southwest? The site says requests should be sent to the specific department information is being requested from, but if there is a central person who handles all public records requests for the school that would definitely make the process easier.

Can anyone tell me the status of the request for the document showing the index scores? Last I heard Tina Studaway said it was "being reviewed by the school's legal department." That was on February 11th. I'm a little surprised that the process has taken this long for two fairly simple requests.

Thanks,

Carlton Purvis

--

On Tue, Apr 7, 2015, at 08:30 PM, Miller, Robert G. wrote:
Greetings,

This is the first I’ve heard of your public records requests mentioned below. Our department is routinely contacted by both internal and external parties regarding media interview requests. I am copying our Vice President for Institutional Advancement Karen Nippert regarding your requests. A link from our college website to our 2014 Clery Report follows:

http://www.southwest.tn.edu/police/cleryReport.pdf

rgm

Robert G. Miller
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
Southwest Tennessee Community College
Farris Bldg., Room 1002
5983 Macon Cove
Memphis, TN 38134
Office phone: (901) 333-4368
Fax: (901) 333-4503
E-mail: rgmiller1@southwest.tn.edu
Website: www.southwest.tn.edu

From: Carlton Purvis
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2015 3:12 PM
To: Heather.Stewart@tbr.edu
Cc: rgmiller1@southwest.tn.edu
Subject: Southwest Tennessee Community College: Public Records Release Issues

Good afternoon,

I've filed two open records requests with Southwest that I am having trouble making progress on. One is for the most recent Clery Act reports and the other is for nursing index scores. For the latter, I was told that the request had been forwarded to the "Southwest legal department" for review. For the former, I was told by Kathy Reel in public safety that she was directed by the Communications and Marketing Department not to release the information to me.

It wasn't until speaking to the school's human resources department today that I found out that Southwest doesn't even have a legal department. HR says it has you listed as legal counsel for the school.

Are you a better point of contact for records requests? The school's policy says requests should be sent to the specific department the information is being requested from, but I'm not making any progress that way.

Thanks,

Carlton Purvis

Heather,

I appreciate the response. The Clery Act reports that you attached are what I requested. Thank you.

This wasn't a miscommunication. I was very clear with Ms. Reel multiple times by phone and by email that I was requesting full reports, not statistics. She advised me that past reports were not available. In fact, in a phone call on April 7th, she claimed that she was directed by the Communications and Marketing Department not to release the information that I requested and instead to only release the 2014 Clery Act Report. I again stated that I was requesting full reports and not statistics in my email to yourself and Robert Miller later that day. Please let me know if you need me to re-send you that email and your replies. I don't know how I could have been any clearer.

As for the request for the index scores, there's nothing really murky about this at all. In fact, the FPCO has already made a decision on this topic in the past. Please see the following for a summary of that decision: http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/blj/vol25/181-198.pdf

From page 13: 'The FPCO allayed the TDOE’s concerns, advising that “[e]ducation records may be released without consent if all personally identifying information has been removed.” Once data can no longer “be linked to a student by those reviewing and analyzing the data,” the data are no longer “directly related to any students,” and thus fall outside the definition of educational records, the release of which would be prohibited.'

An anonymous list of composite scores cannot be traced back individual students if the record is properly redacted and all personally identifiable information removed. In my reply to Ms. Studaway on February 9th, I specifically asked that personally identifiable information be redacted.

My exact wording was: "If this document does have student specific information, I ask that you please redact that information, because that information is not what is being sought by this request."

Sincerely,

Carlton Purvis

On May 22, 2015, at 3:07 PM, Heather Stewart <Heather.Stewart@tbr.edu> wrote:

As for the Clery Reports, I believe there was a miscommunication. Because each report contains statistics for the previous 3 years, I think police services believed they were being responsive to your request. Regardless, reports that were filed in 2010, 2011, and 2012 are attached. It is my understanding that the reports for 2013 and 2014 have already been emailed to you.

I want to make sure I’m clear about which reports you are requesting. I assume you mean the reports that were filed on October 1 of each of those years and not the reports that cover those years. The Clery Act requires us to publish an annual security report on October 1 for the previous year. For example, on October 1, 2014, Southwest published its 2014 Annual Security Report. That report covered the calendar year of 2013. The report includes certain required statements of policy and emergency preparedness information. It also included crime reports for 2013, 2012, and 2011. The report published on October 1, 2013, covered the policy statements from 2012 and the crime statistics from 2012, 2011, and 2010.

The most recent Annual Security Report is always available on Southwest’s website under www.southwest.tn.edu/police/. It’s located under “Related Links” on the right hand side of the page. In addition, you can visit the Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool website to get data on any school that has filed its crime statistics with the Department of Education. That website is http://ope.ed.gov/security/.

As for the nursing index, I understand your arguments for disclosure of those records. Quite frankly, it is a very murky area given all the factors we must consider. I have left messages for both the Open Records Counsel for the State of Tennessee and the attorney assistance hotline for the Family Policy Compliance Office. The FPCO is the federal agencies that enforces FERPA. Due to the very sensitive nature of the information you’ve requested, I do not feel comfortable releasing the information without a direct answer from the FPCO. I have dealt with this office on other matters, and they are always very prompt to respond. If someone was making the same request for your grades and test scores, I assure you we would take the same precautionary measures. As soon as I hear back from Ann Butterworth at the Open Records Office and from the FPCO, I will happily release to you what they tell me I can.

Heather C. Stewart

Associate General Counsel

Tennessee Board of Regents

1415 Murfreesboro Road

Nashville, Tennessee 37217

Phone: 615.366.3933

Fax: 615.366.3910

Email: heather.stewart@tbr.edu

Good afternoon,

Can you let me know the status of this request? Would you be able to make these documents available for inspection sometime next week?

Thanks,

Carlton

On Wed, Jun 3, 2015, at 09:58 PM, Heather Stewart wrote:

Carlton,
I wanted you to know that I have been in quite lengthy conversations with attorneys at the U.S. Department of Education and the Tennessee Open Records Office. We are still researching the issue. I will be reaching out to the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office as well. Once we reach a decision, I will be back in touch.

Heather C. Stewart
Associate General Counsel
Tennessee Board of Regents
1415 Murfreesboro Road
Nashville, Tennessee 37217
Phone: 615.366.3933
Fax: 615.366.3910
Email: heather.stewart@tbr.edu

Hi Heather,

Just checking the status of this. You said there would be a response two weeks ago.

Carlton

On Thu, Sep 10, 2015, at 09:18 PM, Carlton Purvis wrote:
> Good afternoon,
>
> Just checking on the status of this.
>
> Carlton
>
> --
> capurvis@fastmail.fm
>
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2015, at 09:37 PM, Heather Stewart wrote:
> > I have a phone call scheduled at 9:00am on Wednesday morning. A final
> > decision will be made at that time, and I will immediately relay that
> > decision to you.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Carlton Purvis [mailto:capurvis@fastmail.fm]
> > Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 7:14 PM
> > To: Heather Stewart <Heather.Stewart@tbr.edu>
> > Subject: Just checking on this ...
> >
> > Good afternoon,
> >
> > Can you let me know the status of this request? Would you be able to make
> > these documents available for inspection sometime next week?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Carlton
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 3, 2015, at 09:58 PM, Heather Stewart wrote:
> >
> > Carlton,
> > I wanted you to know that I have been in quite lengthy conversations with
> > attorneys at the U.S. Department of Education and the Tennessee Open
> > Records Office. We are still researching the issue. I will be reaching
> > out to the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office as well. Once we reach a
> > decision, I will be back in touch.
> >
> > Heather C. Stewart
> > Associate General Counsel
> > Tennessee Board of Regents
> > 1415 Murfreesboro Road
> > Nashville, Tennessee 37217
> > Phone: 615.366.3933
> > Fax: 615.366.3910
> > Email: heather.stewart@tbr.edu