Minutes from board meetings, subcommittee meetings, other meetings, policy documents
Mr Harris made this Official Information request to St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Response to this request is long overdue. By law St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu) should have responded by now (details and exceptions). The requester can complain to the Ombudsman.
From: Mr Harris
Dear St Patrick's Catholic School (Te Awamutu),
I am requesting under the OIA the following:
1. Minutes from St Patrick's Board of Trustee ("Board") meetings from the last eight months including the most recent meeting at the time of your response if that meeting occurs after this request, including minutes from any Board subcommittees in the last three months and most recent as above.
2. St Patrick's school/board policies regarding romantic relationships between staff members, and regarding school staff codes of conduct, and regarding misconduct, and regarding obligations and expectations around supporting special character.
3. Information and correspondence about any and all complaints against or concerns about members, or the conduct of members, of school staff or Board, including teaching, non-teaching, and leadership staff members.
4. Reports (extra to usual regular reports) or investigations written as a result of Board business in last six months including any written between date of this request and date of your response.
5. As far as possible, notes of, or notes of recollections of, any conversation of Board members or staff about Board or Board subcommittee business in the last six months.
I understand that you will have obligations under the relevant privacy legislation and may need to redact some parts of some documents.
I request this information in digital form.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Harris.
From: Anna Gallien
St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Kia ora Mr Harris,
In response to your request made under the OIA, I ask please for evidence
of the following as per the Office of the [1]Ombudsman's information.
This is that you are either:
- a NZ citizen or permanent resident
- actually present in New Zealand, or
- a body corporate that is incorporated or that has a place of business in
New Zealand.
We would also appreciate it if you were able to please provide your full
name and the reason for your request.
In order for the board to respond a little easier, it would help if you
could be more specific on the time frame of school complaints you ask for.
You have also requested information that would require considerable time
for the board to prepare in respect of considerations under the Privacy
Act 2020, particularly information about employees. It is possible
therefore that we will charge for this request in order for us to supply
the information to you in a timely fashion and within legislation.
In the meantime, please find our current list of policies and staff
conduct documents under this
link: [2]https://www.stpatta.co.nz/about-us/our-s...
point 2 of your correpondence.
I note that the minutes of the board's general meetings have not been
uploaded to the website for the past couple of years - no doubt an
oversight of board transition. I will ask our admin to upload these as
well.
We look forward to your response Mr Harris.
Ngā mihi,
Anna Gallien
Presiding Member
St Patrick's School Board
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mr Harris <[3][FOI #21867 email]>
Date: Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 1:11 PM
Subject: Official Information request - Minutes from board meetings,
subcommittee meetings, other meetings, policy documents
To: OIA/LGOIMA requests at St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
<[4][St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu) request email]>
Dear St Patrick's Catholic School (Te Awamutu),
I am requesting under the OIA the following:
1. Minutes from St Patrick's Board of Trustee ("Board") meetings from
the last eight months including the most recent meeting at the time of
your response if that meeting occurs after this request, including
minutes from any Board subcommittees in the last three months and most
recent as above.
2. St Patrick's school/board policies regarding romantic relationships
between staff members, and regarding school staff codes of conduct, and
regarding misconduct, and regarding obligations and expectations around
supporting special character.
3. Information and correspondence about any and all complaints against
or concerns about members, or the conduct of members, of school staff or
Board, including teaching, non-teaching, and leadership staff members.
4. Reports (extra to usual regular reports) or investigations written as
a result of Board business in last six months including any written
between date of this request and date of your response.
5. As far as possible, notes of, or notes of recollections of, any
conversation of Board members or staff about Board or Board subcommittee
business in the last six months.
I understand that you will have obligations under the relevant privacy
legislation and may need to redact some parts of some documents.
I request this information in digital form.
I look forward to your prompt response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Harris.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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From: Mr Harris
Dear Anna Gallien,
Thanks for your reply and the information you've provided already.
I'm a New Zealand citizen resident in New Zealand.
Can I draw your attention to this extract of the Office of the Ombudsman's guide to making OIA requests: "Agencies should only query eligibility if there is a genuine need to do so, and they should be mindful of their obligation to provide reasonable assistance to requesters. Time taken to confirm eligibility may mean less time is available for processing a request."
The legislation doesn't oblige a requester to provide a reason for his request. I acknowledge your query but respectfully decline to answer it.
Regarding a timeframe for complaints, a similar timeframe as in my other requests will be ok: complaints within the last six months.
Could you provide an estimate of costs involved and an idea of the itemised breakdown of those forecasted costs please.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
From: Anna Gallien
St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Kia ora Mr Harris
A late night you must have had! Thank you for your prompt reply and your
indication of timeframe to the information requested.
The nature and timing of your request raises a concern for me as the
board's presiding member, that you are a board member. However, in line
with your response I will take in good faith that you have put forward
this OIA and in the spirit of our own school values of faith, service,
hope and love.
We are looking at the amount of information requested and level of work
required to release what we can and we hope to be able to respond with
more next week. We will do our best and keep you informed if we have any
delay that looks like we won't be able to respond as quickly as we would
like and before the 17th of March.
With regards to cost, I expect that it might be in the considerable time
it takes to redact for privacy, if that is required, but again I will let
you know as soon as we can ascertain.
Many thanks,
Anna.
On Mon, 20 Feb 2023 at 11:22 PM, Mr Harris
<[1][FOI #21867 email]> wrote:
Dear Anna Gallien,
Thanks for your reply and the information you've provided already.
I'm a New Zealand citizen resident in New Zealand.
Can I draw your attention to this extract of the Office of the
Ombudsman's guide to making OIA requests: "Agencies should only query
eligibility if there is a genuine need to do so, and they should be
mindful of their obligation to provide reasonable assistance to
requesters. Time taken to confirm eligibility may mean less time is
available for processing a request."
The legislation doesn't oblige a requester to provide a reason for his
request. I acknowledge your query but respectfully decline to answer it.
Regarding a timeframe for complaints, a similar timeframe as in my other
requests will be ok: complaints within the last six months.
Could you provide an estimate of costs involved and an idea of the
itemised breakdown of those forecasted costs please.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora Mr Harris,
In response to your request made under the OIA, I ask please for
evidence
of the following as per the Office of the [1]Ombudsman's information.
This is that you are either:
- a NZ citizen or permanent resident
- actually present in New Zealand, or
- a body corporate that is incorporated or that has a place of business
in
New Zealand.
We would also appreciate it if you were able to please provide your
full
name and the reason for your request.
In order for the board to respond a little easier, it would help if you
could be more specific on the time frame of school complaints you ask
for.
You have also requested information that would require considerable
time
for the board to prepare in respect of considerations under the Privacy
Act 2020, particularly information about employees. It is possible
therefore that we will charge for this request in order for us to
supply
the information to you in a timely fashion and within legislation.
In the meantime, please find our current list of policies and staff
conduct documents under this
link: [2][2]https://www.stpatta.co.nz/about-us/our-s...
point 2 of your correpondence.
I note that the minutes of the board's general meetings have not been
uploaded to the website for the past couple of years - no doubt an
oversight of board transition. I will ask our admin to upload these as
well.
We look forward to your response Mr Harris.
Ngā mihi,
Anna Gallien
Presiding Member
St Patrick's School Board
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #21867 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[4]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer,
please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA
or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #21867 email]
2. https://www.stpatta.co.nz/about-us/our-s...
3. mailto:[FOI #21867 email]
4. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
hide quoted sections
From: Mr Harris
Dear Anna Gallien
thanks for your reply.
I'm not a board member.
Yours sincerely
Mr Harris
From: Anna Gallien
St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Thank you Mr Harris.
On Thu, 23 Feb 2023 at 8:55 PM, Mr Harris
<[1][FOI #21867 email]> wrote:
Dear Anna Gallien
thanks for your reply.
I'm not a board member.
Yours sincerely
Mr Harris
-----Original Message-----
Kia ora Mr Harris
A late night you must have had! Thank you for your prompt reply and
your
indication of timeframe to the information requested.
The nature and timing of your request raises a concern for me as the
board's presiding member, that you are a board member. However, in line
with your response I will take in good faith that you have put forward
this OIA and in the spirit of our own school values of faith, service,
hope and love.
We are looking at the amount of information requested and level of work
required to release what we can and we hope to be able to respond with
more next week. We will do our best and keep you informed if we have
any
delay that looks like we won't be able to respond as quickly as we
would
like and before the 17th of March.
With regards to cost, I expect that it might be in the considerable
time
it takes to redact for privacy, if that is required, but again I will
let
you know as soon as we can ascertain.
Many thanks,
Anna.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #21867 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[3]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer,
please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA
or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
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2. mailto:[FOI #21867 email]
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hide quoted sections
From: Anna Gallien
St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Appendix One 1.pdf
62K
Download
View as HTML
FEA 795213 10 36 2 OIA response letter 3.pdf
130K
Download
View as HTML
From: Mr Harris
Dear Anna Gallien,
Thanks for your letter.
Can you point out to me exactly where I can find the requested information about policies please? I don't consider a link to all the policies on your website as meeting the request in item 2. of my first letter. Please provide the titles of the specific documents where I'll find all the requested information.
I also point out that minutes of meetings not open to the public - that is, in-committee sections of regular Board meetings - are subject to OIA requests, and I'm asking again for these minutes. They can be redacted for privacy.
I point out that the OIA considers "information not yet written down" - that is, recollections, is consider information available for release to the public. If no minutes were recorded for in-committee parts of committee meetings at the time (which would be an oversight) they can now be written down and sent through.
Further, I remind you that correspondence with the Board about complaints/concerns about staff from members of the community are also subject to OIA and can also be satisfactorily redacted for privacy, and then released.
You mention bona fides - in releasing to me the appendix with two complaints you do indicate that you are sufficiently satisfied that I am a NZer and am entitled to this release; the method of using the FYI site is irrelevant.
Thanks for your time and, as a member of a government agency, your commitment to the principles of the OIA.
I point out that we are beyond 20 working days as the timeframe provided in legislation to meet a request under the OIA.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
From: Mr Harris
Dear Anna Gallien,
Please respond to the previous message which points out that you haven't met the request in an appropriate way: one link to a dozen or more documents does not facilitate access to the information requested.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
From: Anna Gallien
St Patrick's Catholic Sch (Te Awamutu)
Dear Mr Harris
The board responded to your request on the 15th of March. Your response,
emailed at 12.01am on Sunday 26 March indicates that you are not satisfied
with our response. You also did not address our concerns.
The board is taking time to reconsider our initial response based on your
reply.
We hope to reply in a timely manner by 6th of April, Holy Thursday. You
will be updated if anything changes.
Sincerely,
Anna.
On Thu, 30 Mar 2023 at 5:31 PM, Mr Harris
<[1][FYI request #21867 email]> wrote:
Dear Anna Gallien,
Please respond to the previous message which points out that you haven't
met the request in an appropriate way: one link to a dozen or more
documents does not facilitate access to the information requested.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
-----Original Message-----
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FYI request #21867 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published
on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[3]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer,
please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA
or LGOIMA page.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[FYI request #21867 email]
2. mailto:[FYI request #21867 email]
3. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
hide quoted sections
From: Mr Harris
Dear Anna Gallien,
Thank you for your reply.
Can I point out that the agency you represent is bound by the requirements of the OIA, namely to release requested information within 20 working days. You are currently in breach of that legislation. I encourage you to promptly provide the information requested, as merely sending a link as you have done (a link which, further, is broken and only returns a 404) to a raft of policies, most irrelevant to my request, and expecting me to find the information somewhere amongst them, is a failure to respond to my request for specific policies.
Further to your reply today, no agency can ever be sure of what a requester will do with information released by that agency and how that requester may or may not make it public, but that is irrelevant: St Patrick's BOT is required to make official information available when requested regardless of who asks for it or what they may do with it. So I have no duty to "address your concerns" however I will say here that I see this information to be in the public interest, particularly to those Kiwis interested in education provided by state and state-integrated schools, and governance and administration in those same schools, and how schools respond to concerns or questions from the community.
You mentioned earlier the St Patrick School's values of faith, service, hope and love: being transparent, and meeting obligations under the OIA, are a part of those values even if - as can perhaps be inferred from the tone and content of your most recent correspondence - the Board is now receiving legal advice suggesting it should play hardball here.
I'd rather not take this to the Ombudsman but if necessary that option is there of course.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Harris
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