Note: This is the third time AACPS has refused to fulfill my request for FY2015 compensation data for AACPS employees within the 30 days required by Maryland’s Public Information Act.  By Maryland statute, the requested compensation information is public information.


 

From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2016 5:35 PM
To: ‘Mosier, Bob’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request

Dear Mr. Mosier:

Today marked the 30th day of my December 10, 2015 Public Information Act request under your reading of the Public Information Act.  On Thursday morning, January 7, 2015, I called your office and briefly spoke to you to remind you of the deadline.  This is now the third time since the end of FY2015 on July 1, 2015 that you have only partially fulfilled a Public Information Act request of mine for AACPS FY2015 compensation information.  Please let me know if you intend to fulfill the request and, if so, by when you plan to do so.

Sincerely,

J.H. Snider, Editor
eLighthouse.info


From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2016 12:06 AM
To: ‘Mosier, Bob’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request

Dear Mr. Mosier:

Thank you for this information.  It is indeed a great improvement on what I received before.

A quick review reveals that the total salary field was not included.  I specifically requested the total salary field in my Public Information Act request (see my Public Information Act request to you dated December 10, 2015).  The reason I requested the total salary information is that only some of the pay codes are treated as salary for tax and other purposes, but I don’t know which.  I could have calculated the total salary field myself if you had given me the data entry manual for the payroll system, but you told me the manual was the proprietary information of the software vendor.  Since it is the salary information that is used to calculate average salary, etc., it is a vital field.  If you decide to provide me with the complete data entry manual for the payroll system, I will accept that as a substitute for the total salary field.  Otherwise, please send me all the FY2015 compensation data I requested.

Inexplicably, the pay category code field was still not included as part of the spreadsheet.  But since the pay category codes were included on another work sheet and there is a one-to-one correspondence between pay category codes and pay category descriptions, I’ll accept that as a reasonable substitute.

Other than these two missing fields, all the other fields that I requested were included.  Unless you inform me otherwise, I will assume that all the data are accurate for FY2015; e.g., that the FTE field data is as of FY2015 rather than, say, FY2016.  It is most inconvenient when the compensation data provided me are not reliable.

Your response within the time limit specified by the Public Information Act would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

J.H. Snider, Editor
eLighthouse.info


From: ‘Mosier, Bob’
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 11:23 PM
To: ‘J.H. Snider’
Subject: RE: Public Information Act Request

January 5, 2016

Delivered via email to snider@elighthouse.info

Dear Mr. Snider:

This email is in response to your request under the Public Information Act, Annotated Code of Maryland, General Provisions Article (GP) § 4-101, et seq., seeking information regarding Anne Arundel County Public Schools employees.

A document responsive to your request are attached to this email.

Pursuant to GPA §4-362, in the event you disagree with any determination regarding this Maryland Public Information Act request you may seek judicial review by filing a complaint with the Circuit Court in Anne Arundel County.

Sincerely,

Bob Mosier
Chief Communications Officer
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
Phone: 410-222-5312
Fax: 410-222-5628
Web: www.aacps.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/aacps
Twitter: @AACountySchools


From: ‘J.H. Snider’
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2015 10:30 AM
To: ‘Mosier, Bob’
Subject: Public Information Act Request

Dear Mr. Mosier:

Under the Maryland Public Information Act, State Government Article (SG) §§ 10-611, et seq., I request the FY2015 non-exempt compensation information for all AACPS employees, broken down by pay code, in Excel, a machine-readable format.  This should include the following fields for FY2015 for each employee broken down by paycode: Employee ID, Last Name, First Name, Middle Name, Title Code, Title Description, Unit #, Work Location, FTE, Total Salary, Pay Code, Pay Category (Pay Code Description), Pay Code Amount, Work Cycle, Grade, Step, Degree, Hire/Seniority Date, Years Experience.  Again, please note that I’m asking for the information broken down by pay code for each employee.

Alas, as you will no doubt observe, I previously requested substantially the same data but for multiple fiscal years as opposed to one.  I previously emailed you some preliminary observations about discrepancies between what I requested in my Public Information Act request and what I received.  As I’ve gone through the data, however, I’ve discovered additional problems.  Whether the faulty data is due to missing or incorrect data I cannot necessarily tell from the data I have.

I previously reported to you that the data broken down by pay code for FY2013, FY2014, and FY2015 was presented as a single record without providing the corresponding FTE status for each of those fiscal years.  That made accurate salary statistical analyses impossible.  After aggregating the pay codes by individual, I also discovered major discrepancies between the FY2015 data you provided me broken down by pay codes and the earlier FY2015 data you provided me aggregated by individual.  I haven’t been able to reconcile those differences (e.g., why the FTE status for the same employee for FY2015 would, in some cases, be different in the two data sets you provided me; and why the total of pay code amounts by employee would be LESS than total salary by employee), so I’m forced to request a comprehensive set of data for FY2015 that I can trust.  To whomever you entrust with the task of providing me with the requested data, I would ask that you ask that person to double check their work to ensure it is responsive to my request and provides accurate information.

Downloading payroll data from AACPS’s multi-million-dollar payroll software and then emailing the resulting Excel file to me as an attachment should require only a few minutes, although it might require some concentration to ensure that the proper data fields and records are downloaded.  If you are claiming that it will take more than two hours to fulfill this Public Information Act request, please provide a cost estimate.

Please charge me no more than the amount you have charged the Capital or individual AACPS Board of Education members for copying similar records and correcting mistakes made by AACPS.

Please send me the requested file 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.  As you know, Maryland law specifies that public employee compensation is public information.

Your response within the 10 calendar days now required by the Public Information Act would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

J.H. Snider, Editor
eLighthouse.info