Exactly two months after I filed a very modest Maryland Public Information request with the Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) to access its performance reports for AACC’s Earn College Credits While in High School program, it was fulfilled adequately, but not without a lot of sturm and drang in the intervening months.
Most notable was its early use of campus security to gather information about me and potentially intimidate me. I have had PIO officers attempt to mobilize thousands of low level staff to harass my children in K12 public school, report to the superintendent and school board chair that I needed to be thwarted, and lobby the Maryland General Assembly to create a Public Informaton Act exemption to prevent me from accessing certain information under Maryland’s Public Information Act. But AACC’s tactic of having a security officer question the legitimacy of my Public Information Act request because of its supposedly unusual email address–an email address I’ve used on dozens of other Public Information Act requests–was novel. I believe the intent was not to intimidate me but merely to find some excuse to identify me, ascertain my purposes, and size me up more generally so AACC could deside whether it could essentially blow off the request with some plausing sounding excuse. The best I can say about AACC’s approach is that it’s better than using an in-house security officer to grill a PIA reqester as a potential homicide suspect. That’s what an in-house security officer did at one Maryland central school administrative office (The Riva Road central administration building at the Anne Arundel County Public Schools) when a reporter, acting as part of a right-to-know survey for Maryland’s press association, sought a copy of the superintendent’s employment contract. Each requesting reporter was able to act anonymously by making the request in a neighbhoring district, not his own, and showing up in person to make a copy of the contract. Under Maryland law, the superintendent’s contract is a public document, so this was a good test to see how Maryland’s Public Information was working across Maryland various political jurisdictions. The Public Information Act does not allow school administrators to grill requesters concerning exactly why they want a particular document and how they might use it.
Most annoying was AACC’s not being willing to tell me what performance data it either 1) didn’t compile, or 2) wouldn’t provide me because it viewed the data as confidential and exempt under Maryland’s Public Information Act. Specifically, AACC collects and compiles student evaluations of courses but won’t make that data public in response to a Maryland Public Information Act request. It was like pulling teeth without anaesthesia to get that inforamtion. But eventually, exactly two months after my Public Information Act request, AACC did provide the information. Despite the fact that elite universities routinely make student evaluation forms available to students and the U.S. Army has collected and published student evaluations of AACC and other college courses regardless of teacher opposition, I accepted AACC’s claim that the information was exempt as it related to a personnel matter that might adversely affect teachers.
The Public Information Act correspondence with AACC is copied below.
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 2:27 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Course evaluation documentation manifests in the college’s Student Opinion Forms and these forms are part of how we evaluate employees. Because they are personnel-related they are not disclosable under GP §4-311.
In the event you disagree with any determination regarding this Maryland Public Information Act request, you have the right to seek review or remedy, in accordance with GP §4-1B-01 through §4-1B-04, with Maryland Public Access Ombudsman Lisa Kershner at lkershner@oag.state.md.us, (410) 576-7037, or by mail at the Office of the Attorney General, 200 St. Paul Place, Baltimore, MD 21202. Under GP §4-362, you also have the right to file a complaint in Circuit Court requesting a review of this decision.
Melissa A. Beardmore, CPA
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
410-777-2532
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 1:59 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Thank you for providing the missing performance reports.
The one remaining missing performance report apparent from what you emailed me is the course evaluations, which I also didn’t see on AACC’s public website. If I missed it, please let me know.
The only public course evaluations for AACC I was able to find were provided by GoArmyEd, which facilitates army civilian education. I don’t know the relationship between eArmyU and GoArmyEd. You observed that AACC was no longer working with eArmyU.
Please email me the course evaluation summary for each AACC course taught during FY2020 and FY2019. I understand that AACC doesn’t break out the course evaluations by AACPS students vs. the rest, so I’m not asking for that breakdown, just each course evaluation summary. By course evaluation summary I mean the aggregate course evaluation data for each course, not the individual student evaluations. I believe those course evaluations potentially provide very valuable information to prospective students. Until I received your June 5, 2020 email, I had been under the impression that AACC itself (as opposed to, say, GoArmyEd) didn’t collect course evaluations by students, even though such student evaluations are widely used in the higher education community. If AACC believes those course evaluations are exempt from public disclosure under Maryland’s Public Information Act, please let me know the exemption under which it makes that claim.
Again, thank you for substantially providing the performance reports that I requested.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 12:27 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Mr. Snider:
In response to your latest email requesting additional information as follow up to your additional questions related to your April 6, 2020, under the Maryland Public Information Act, please see below and attached for each of the items you requested.
Question #1: What student surveys have AACPS students filled out—and with what results— concerning their AACC courses taken for AACPS credit? I believe AACPS doesn’t collect that type of information.
AACC Response: The college does not survey students under 18 years old because they require consent of a parent/guardian to participate. All students are included in courses evaluations through a Student Opinion Form regardless of age. The college is unable to identify AACPS students who submitted evaluations due to the anonymous nature of the survey.
Question #2: What percentage of AACPS students start but don’t complete their various AACC courses taken for AACPS credit? I believe AACC doesn’t collect that information broken down to that level of detail.
AACC Response: The college has already answered this question with the course grade data provided in our May 20, 2020 response. To assist you further, the percentage of non-completers can be calculated by the number of withdrawals divided by total number of grades. Attachment A includes an updated table to include a column at the end titled “Percent Withdrawn”.
Question #3: What, exactly, are the names and dates of the documents that AACC has produced during fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018 regarding the performance of courses AACPS students took for credit at AACC? There are numerous different ways that colleges may track course performance, so you are correct that I had to specify my April 6, 2029 Public Information Act request broadly to include the potential variations. I believe my April 6, 2020 Public
Information Act request was clear about the types of performance documents I was seeking. But since you disagree, please email the list of documents as I requested in my last email to you in response to your charges.
AACC Response: AACC systematically tracks course outcomes. Attachments B – D are Course Analysis Dashboards which have been sorted to include all high school students. That’s why the left-hand side of the report lists select Status = “HS Students”. However, please note that these are not just AACPS high school students and the data includes high school students from other counties. The college is unable to filter out the high school students from other counties.
As you requested we have waived the fees to obtain the attached information.
Sincerely,
Melissa A. Beardmore
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 5:15 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
In response to your question:
- What student surveys have AACPS students filled out—and with what results—concerning their AACC courses taken for AACPS credit? I believe AACPS doesn’t collect that type of information.
- What percentage of AACPS students start but don’t complete their various AACC courses taken for AACPS credit? I believe AACC doesn’t collect that information broken down to that level of detail.
- What, exactly, are the names and dates of the documents that AACC has produced during fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018 regarding the performance of courses AACPS students took for credit at AACC? There are numerous different ways that colleges may track course performance, so you are correct that I had to specify my April 6, 2029 Public Information Act request broadly to include the potential variations. I believe my April 6, 2020 Public Information Act request was clear about the types of performance documents I was seeking. But since you disagree, please email the list of documents as I requested in my last email to you in response to your charges.
Again, two months have passed since my April 6, 2020 Public Information Act request.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:42 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Do not accuse me of delaying. The college is working through unprecedented issues related to COVID 19. Any delays are due to the critical work associated with running the college.
We provided you with the grades of the students per your question #1. What other data do you want?
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:40 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Importance: High
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
The wording in item #4 couldn’t have been clearer. As you put it in your June 1, 2020 response to #4:
This is a question we need more time to follow up on. We will try to get you a response by COB Wednesday, June 3rd.
You don’t need any more information from me; that is just another delaying tactic. Please answer the question. If you disagree, then please provide me with a list precisely specifying all the documents AACC produces regarding the performance of the online and blended learning courses AACPS students take via AACC. If you won’t produce that list, then allow me to talk directly to the person at AACC responsible for generating the relevant performance related data. Otherwise, you’re trying to set me up in a Catch 22 situation, where you won’t tell me what performance related documents you have available but insist I precisely specify them before you will comply with a PIA request for them
If I don’t hear back from you by 2:00 pm tomorrow, I will file a complaint with Maryland’s Public Access Ombudsman—exactly two months after my Public Information Act request was submitted to your office.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 4:07 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Regarding item #4 in our follow up response that was sent to you on June 1st, we are providing the following information:
- Your initial request asked for performance data, which we provided to you in our initial response (item #1). In item #2 you asked for the same data delineated by EArmy U and AACPS. EArmyU is a program that no longer exists so we referred you back to the data provided in item #1. If you have a specific request beyond items #1 or #2, then please make that specific request as clearly as possible. You do not define “performance documents” in your initial request so if our response didn’t meet your needs then you need to clarify.
- AACC systematically tracks course outcomes. If you have a particular request for data, be clear. We have already provided grades data in our initial response to you.
Melissa A. Beardmore, CPA
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
410-777-2532
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, June 3, 2020 3:36 PM
To: ‘Beardmore, Melissa A.’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Importance: High
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Please let me know if you still intend to meet your revised, June 3, 2020 deadline, which is today. If not, please let me know your current plan.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2020 5:58 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Mr. Snider:
In response to your email dated May 23, 2020, requesting additional information regarding the college’s response to your Maryland Public Information Act request, please see below for each of the items you requested.
Dual Enrollment is enrollment in a college course while enrolled in secondary education. Students would receive credit for any credit bearing college course they successfully complete and receive an AACC transcripted grade for all courses in which they are enrolled (face to face, online or hybrid). Dual credit means that the student, in addition to the college grade, receives a grade from AACPS (A, B, C, D = “S” for successful, F = “U” for unsuccessful). Courses eligible for dual credit must have received prior approval from AACPS (see https://www.aacps.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=4963&dataid=5727 7&FileName=2020-21%20Dual%20Enrollment%20Courses.pdf), and students are required to seek permission from their school principal if they wish to receive credit from AACPS for their college courses.
To clarify, below are definitions of online and hybrid courses from AACC’s College Catalog. Course format does not change course content to be covered as all courses (regardless of format – online, face to face or hybrid) have a single course outline and course outcomes.
There is no difference in cost if a course is face to face, online or hybrid. Students who participate in dual enrollment receive a 50% tuition discount on college courses, whether online, face to face or hybrid.
The college would prefer not to opine regarding this question.
This is a question we need more time to follow up on. We will try to get you a response by COB Wednesday, June 3rd.
All AACPS students eligible for dual enrollment can take any AACC course for which they have met the pre-requisites. We encourage students to work with school counselors, AACC admissions officers and parents to determine which courses interest them and/or will benefit their educational and career plans. Regarding the subset of courses approved for dual credit, AACPS determines this list and shares it with their students, and it can be found at https://www.aacps.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=4963&datai d=57277&FileName=2020-21%20Dual%20Enrollment%20Courses.pdf.
In addition to encouraging students to work with the professionals who can help guide them and to explore AACC’s Fields of Interest and the AACC Course Catalog, the AACC website details courses available at each high school https://www.aacc.edu/earn- college-credits-while-in-high-school/. There is routine communication between AACC and AACPS regarding courses and programs available to high school students as well as regular correspondence with students looking to enroll at AACC after high school
graduation. Each school has an admissions officer assigned who works with school counselors and with students to prepare them for the transition to college that may include taking college courses while in high school. The college and AACPS coordinates and promotes awareness of instructional pathways that facilitate connections between AACPS programs and AACC fields of interest and degrees.
The college estimates that it would require approximately 40 hours of staff time to produce this correspondence. The estimated cost to compile these emails would be
$1,548. Please advise if you wish to proceed with this answer in light of this fee.
Other than described in the answer to question #5 above, we have waived the fees to obtain this information.
Sincerely,
Melissa A. Beardmore
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2020 4:37 PM
To: ‘Beardmore, Melissa A.’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
I called and left a message for you earlier today when I hadn’t heard back. I called to find out if you had a new deadline.
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 2:14 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
I will not object to Monday June 1 by noon.
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 2:10 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
As I have explained to you previously, the college is extremely busy in supporting out students during this unprecedented pandemic. We appreciate your patience – while you may think the various questions you have posed only take a few minutes to answer, the people who have to answer them are extremely busy supporting students and assisting the college with its recovery efforts. You sent us many follow up questions for which answers are being developed as I type this email. I hope to have a response to you by Monday morning, June 1st.
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 1:58 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
As promised in my May 23 email to you (see below), I’m following up to learn of AACC’s plans to fulfill the remaining unfulfilled items in my April 6, 2020 Public Information Act request to AACC.
If I don’t hear back from you by COB this coming Friday, May 29, I will assume that you don’t intend to fulfill that part of my Public Information Act request and will file a complaint with Maryland’s Public Information Act Ombudsman. I believe the balance of the questions that remain unanswered should take you only a few minutes to answer and that it would save us all a lot of time if you answered them before COB Friday.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Saturday, May 23, 2020 12:36 PM
To: ‘Beardmore, Melissa A.’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Thank you for answering a significant fraction of my questions and getting back to me by yesterday, your May 22 deadline.
In response to my April 6, 2020 Public Information Act request, please address the questions from sub-request 1) concerning dual, online, and hybrid courses:
Please define the difference between a dual and hybrid course as used in AACC’s typology. Are hybrid and online courses a type of dual course or are they a different category of course? Do students get AACC credit for online and hybrid courses? (Whatever differences there might have been between dual, online, and hybrid courses in the past, beginning this semester they would they appear to have all become identical; that is, online courses.)
Who pays for online and hybrid courses? Is there a 50-50 split as with dual courses or is there some other payment method? And if the payments terms for online and hybrid courses aren’t identical to those for dual courses, what are they? (I understand that you don’t keep track of revenue from AACPS, perhaps because the students pay directly for the courses. But you should know what the costs are per online and hybrid course for AACPS students.)
I recognize that I didn’t seek documentation on the following question in my original Public Information Act request and so you are under no obligation to answer it. But I’d welcome insight into the negligible number of students who enrolled in hybrid courses, given that academic researchers have tended to greatly prefer such course formats over pure online courses.
Regarding sub-request 2), if I understand your response correctly, AACC neither keeps track of AACPS student non-completion rates nor student course evaluations.
Regarding sub-request 3), if I understand your response correctly, AACC doesn’t correspond with AACPS about all the high-school specific courses it offers AACPS students. Note that, as AACC’s website stipulates, the AACC courses that AACPS students are allowed to take vary greatly depending on which of the 12 AACPS high schools a student attends.
I believe that these questions should only take a few minutes of your time to answer, and I hope you will do so as soon as possible. If I don’t hear back from you by next Wednesday, I’ll ask for an update on your plans for getting back to me.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2020 1:07 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Mr. Snider:
In response to your email dated April 6, 2020, requesting information under The Maryland Public Information Act, please see below and attached for each of the items you requested.
- Earn College Credits While in High School program for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018. The FY2020 documents should be current as of the date this Public Information Act request is fulfilled. These documents should include how many AACPS students enrolled in an AACC course, how many passed the course, the type of course (e.g., online or hybrid), the cost per course (e.g., broken down by type), and the revenue received by AACC for providing these courses.
AACC Response: Attachment A provides the enrollment and performance data. Regarding the revenue received for dual enrolled students, the college does not track that information separately. The college’s standard in-county tuition and fee rates are noted below. Dually enrolled students typically receive a 50% tuition discount.
| Tuition | Fees | Total | |
| FY 2018 | $ 110 | $ 27 | $ 137 |
| FY 2019 | $ 112 | $ 27 | $ 139 |
| FY 2020 | $ 116 | $ 27 | $ 143 |
- https://www.aacc.edu/earn-college-credits-while-in-high-school/. Click on “View the current AACPS dual credit list.” For students who are not seeking dual credit, they can enroll for any course at the college as long as they are academically eligible.
AACC does not have any input into the AACPS courses that are on the approved list therefore there is no email correspondence between AACPS and the designated contact at AACC concerning the courses offered to AACPS students during the years referenced.
As you requested we have waived the fees to obtain the attached information.
Sincerely,
Melissa A. Beardmore
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 12:22 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Yes, I’m aware of that. I expect to send you something tomorrow. Its been a pleasure…
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 12:20 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Please note that May 22 is only two days from today.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2020 10:19 AM
To: ‘Beardmore, Melissa A.’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Thank you for the update. I look forward to receiving the promised documents by May 22, 2020.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2020 6:30 AM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Mr. Snider under the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, the impact it has had on the college and our IT’s initial report that your email address was not valid, we have just not been able to respond to your request within the MPIA time requirements. It’s as simple as that. I expect we will have the documents to you no later than May 22, 2020.
The college’s “concrete plan” as you describe it, involves no fewer than six employees working together to ensure the data we provide to you is accurate and appropriately answers your request. The data is not readily available and requires some programming to pull from several data files.
Regarding your threat to submit a complaint to the MPIA Ombudsman, we understand that you need to do whatever you believe you need to do.
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2020 12:06 AM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Importance: High
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
The 30-day Maryland Public Information Act deadline has now expired on my April 6, 2020 Maryland Public Information Act request to you.
I called you early yesterday afternoon to remind you of the deadline. If you have a concrete plan to fulfill my Public Information Act request, please share it with me.
If I don’t hear back from you by 1:00 pm today, I will submit a complaint to Maryland’s Public Access Ombudsman.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:04 PM
To: ‘Beardmore, Melissa A.’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
Thank you for your belated compliance with the Public Information Act’s 10-day rule. Since your colleagues in Maryland so often flout that rule, it is noteworthy—and appreciated—when a Public Information Act official attempts to comply with the law.
If you claim that it will take more than two hours to fulfill my Public Information Act request, please break down the time to fulfill it for each of my separate 1), 2), and 3) subrequests that constitute my April 6, 2020 Public Information Act request.
Please note that Maryland Public Information Act officers routinely waive fees when they deem a request in the public interest, as mine most certainly is. Given the widespread shutdown of public schools and the immense importance of public education, public understanding of how distance education is working is essential to democratic accountability.
I look forward to your compliance with Maryland’s Public Information Act within the 30-day time frame specified by law. Please note that delays under the law are treated as a constructive denial.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 10:19 AM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
The college has received your email request dated April 6, 2020 under the Public Information Act, Md. Code Ann., Gen. Prov. (“GP”) §§ 4-101–4-601, seeking records related to the college’s “Earn credits while in high school” program. I write to advise you that it will take us more than 10 working days to produce the requested records. The college is currently offering classes remotely and all employees are telecommuting so the college’s normal response times are significantly delayed during this pandemic.
Our initial review indicates that not all of this information is available, however we will attempt to provide the information that is available to you no later than thirty (30) working days from the date of receipt of your request –April 6, 2020. We anticipate there could be a charge for producing the records and we will have that estimated charge available for you within the next 10 days.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding the college’s processing of your request.
Melissa A. Beardmore, CPA
Vice President for Learning Resources Management
Anne Arundel Community College
101 College Pkwy
Arnold, MD 21012
Phone 410.777.2532
Fax 410.777.4532
The information contained in this email may be confidential and/or legally privileged. It has been sent for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). If the reader of this message is not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication, or any of its content, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2020 12:21 PM
To: Beardmore, Melissa A. <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request
Caution: This email originated from outside AACC. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Vice President Beardmore:
A day after I submitted my Public Information Act request (see below) AACC’s Director of Information Security detail called me, saying that I needed to confirm who I am or Vice President Beardmore wouldn’t fulfill my Public Information Request request. According to your Security Director, you had determined that I had a suspicious email address that didn’t seem to come from a real person. No matter that the domain name of my email address, @jhsnider.net, was my own name. I was told that if I didn’t submit a more common domain name for my email address, such as @gmail.com, you wouldn’t fulfill my Public Information Act request. In reply, I explained how absurd this Maryland Public Information Act exemption theory was, one wholly out of keeping with both the spirit and letter of Maryland’s Public Information Act.
It is not unusual in Maryland for government officials to want to know about those asking them for information via Maryland’s Public Information Act. For example, they will often want to know if the request is from a reporter they’ll have to take seriously or from some schmuck off-the-street they can play Public Information Act games with. Since the Public Information Act doesn’t allow you to ask for this type of information explicitly, a pretext is often used. But I had never before heard your particular pretext.
I’d like to call your attention to GP § 4-203(b). For your convenience, I’m copying a plain English summary of it from Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General:
Under GP § 4-203(b)(1), if a custodian determines that a record is responsive to a request and open to inspection, the custodian must produce the record “immediately” after receipt of the written request. An additional reasonable period “not to exceed 30 days” is available only where the additional period of time is required to retrieve the records and assess their status under the PIA. A custodian should not, however, wait the full 30 days to allow or deny access to a record if that amount of time is not needed to respond.
If access is to be granted, the record should be produced for inspection and copying promptly after the written request is evaluated. If it will take more than 10 working days to produce the requested records, the custodian must notify the requester, in writing or by email, of that fact. GP § 4-203(b)(2). The notification must be sent within the same 10-day time period and must indicate the amount of time needed to respond, the reason for the delay, and an estimate of the range of fees that may be charged.
Anne Arundel Community College is now in violation of this law.
You are AACC’s officially designated Public Information Act officer. I hope that going forward AACC will promptly and in good faith comply with both the spirit and letter of Maryland’s Public Information Act.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 5:27 PM
To: ‘mabeardmore@aacc.edu’ <mabeardmore@aacc.edu>
Subject: Public Information Act Request
Dear Ms. Beardmore:
Under the Maryland Public Information Act, State Government Article (SG) §§ 10-611, et seq., I request the following documents:
- All documents concerning the performance of AACC’s Earn College Credits While in High School program for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018. The FY2020 documents should be current as of the date this Public Information Act request is fulfilled. These documents should include how many AACPS students enrolled in an AACC course, how many passed the course, the type of course (e.g., online or hybrid), the cost per course (e.g., broken down by type), and the revenue received by AACC for providing these courses.
- All performance documents concerning AACC’s online course offerings for fiscal years 2020, 2019, and 2018. The documents should include how many students of the total students enrolled were enrolled via a) eArmyU and b) AACPS.
- Email correspondence between AACPS and the designated contact at AACC concerning the courses offered to AACPS students during fiscal years 2020 and 2019. The FY2020 email correspondence should be current as of the date this Public Information Act request is fulfilled.
Please email me all the requested documents as an email attachment.
If you deny any part of this request, please cite each specific Public Information Act exemption that justifies your denial of the information.
Your prompt fulfillment of this Public Information Act request would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
J.H. Snider
The following information was attached to the bottom of AACC’s emails:
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