Raritan Valley Community College Open Records Request
| Submitted | March 17, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Samuel Trilling
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
* Any annual, quarterly or semesterly logs or reports that detail how often various school therapy services are provided to students. Please provide logs from the academic year beginning in 2014 through the present.
* Any reports, logs, or other data that tracks average wait times for students who have sought help for mental health issues. Please provide logs from the academic year beginning in 2014 through the present.
* The budget for mental health services for each year beginning in 2014 through the present.
* Any reports, logs, or other data that tracks the number of mental-health related accommodations requested each school year, as well as the outcomes of those accommodation requests. Please provide records beginning in 2014 through the present.
* Any and all policies related to mental health, including but not limited to policies governing leaves of absence (voluntary and involuntary) for students, as well as any logs or reports that note the voluntary and involuntary leaves of absences students have taken each year since 2014.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. 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 5 business days, as the statute requires.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. 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,
Samuel Trilling
From: Samuel Trilling
Here is the official form, if needed.
From: Raritan Valley Community College
Raritan Valley Community College (“RVCC”) received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request dated March 17, 2020. The Custodian of Record received your OPRA request on March 18, 2020. As such, this response to your request is being provided to you on the first business day after the Custodian of Record’s receipt of said request.
Please be advised that your request requires an extension of time to fulfill due to the current COVID-19 pandemic and associated RVCC building closures. OPRA allows custodians extensions of time so long as the requestor is advised, in writing, within the statutorily mandated seven (7) business day deadline. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i); See also Starkey v. NJ Dep’t of Transportation, GRC Complaint Nos. 2007-315, 2007-316 and 2007-317 (February 2009) and Criscione v. Town of Guttenberg (Hudson), GRC Complaint No. 2010-68 (November 2010) (holding that requestor’s approval is not required for a time extension).
Furthermore, the New Jersey Legislature recently passed a bill, A-3849, which would modify OPRA deadlines in the event of a public emergency to require that custodians “make a reasonable effort to respond within seven business days, or as soon as possible thereafter, as the circumstances permit.”
As the records you have requested are not accessible during school closures, RVCC is unable to respond to your request at this time.
Janet Thompson
Custodian of Public Records
janet.thompson@raritanval.edu
908-526-1200 x8285
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 17, 2020. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Raritan Valley Community College
In response to your May 25, 2020 follow-up email regarding an Open Public Records Act request originally submitted on by email on March 17 and responded to by Raritan Valley Community College on March 20, 2020 by email, here is the information you requested.
Any reports, logs, or other data that tracks the number of mental-health related accommodations requested each school year, as well as the outcomes of those accommodation requests. Please provide records beginning in 2014 through the present.
Data by Academic Terms
The College does not track how many students apply/request accommodations versus receive them. Please see data by term since 2014.
Term
Number of students approved for accommodations due to mental health conditions
Spring 2014
47
Summer 2014
24
Fall 2014
47
Spring 2015
49
Summer 2015
19
Fall 2015
53
Spring 2016
50
Summer 2016
29
Fall 2016
54
Spring 2017
63
Summer 2017
35
Fall 2017
80
Spring 2018
70
Summer 2018
27
Fall 2018
81
Spring 2019
91
Summer 2019
36
Fall 2019
122
Spring 2020
114
Summer 2020
43
Page Break
Any annual, quarterly or semesterly logs or reports that detail how often various school therapy services are provided to students. Please provide logs from the academic year beginning in 2014 through the present..
Data by Academic Year:
Academic Year Mental Health Services # of Students Served
2014/15672
2015/16640
2016/17625
2017/18810
2018/19434
2019/20**310*
**numbers to end of May 2020
The budget for mental health services for each year beginning in 2014 through the present. Costs represent personnel costs for the three mental health counselors.
[cid:cacd5fba-85e0-4e3d-a205-50ad54162153]
Any reports, logs, or other data that tracks average wait times for students who have sought help for mental health issues. Please provide logs from the academic year beginning in 2014 through the present.
The exact figures are not captured but the Counseling staff arrange their schedules to accommodate new cases with little to no wait time. Students can drop into the office during college office hours and be seen the same day in most cases.
Any and all policies related to mental health, including but not limited to policies governing leaves of absence (voluntary and involuntary) for students, as well as any logs or reports that note the voluntary and involuntary leaves of absences students have taken each year since 2014.
The College does not have specific mental health policies including leaves of absence (voluntary and involuntary) for students. No logs or reports have been compiled which address voluntary and involuntary leaves of absences.
Janet Thompson
Custodian of Public Records
Raritan Valley Community College
908-526-1200 x8285
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