RAAYS and Signature block of Principal
Howard Rait made this Official Information request to Fergusson Intermediate (Trentham)
The request was refused by Fergusson Intermediate (Trentham).
From: Howard Rait
Dear Fergusson Intermediate (Trentham),
As I have asked officially on no less than four times (once to Wendy Elyes (previous BoT Chair), once to the Ministry of Education and twice to the current Chair of the Board of Trustees - Rosamond Connelly) why the Principal of Ferguson Intermediate School - Paul Patterson - has been signing RAAYS (Raising Awareness Around our Youth Sector) letters as the "Principal / Board of Trustees Chairperson", but in particular the Board of Trustees Chairperson part as as far as I am aware he has never held the position, nor do he currently hold it. The only answer I have received is "The letter states Principal / Board of Trustees Chairperson" twice from Rosamond Connelly while it was completely ignored by Wendy Eyles and the Ministry of Education. It is very obvious to myself that that is what the letter states, hence I have been asking the questions.
I am now requesting from "the School" to provide a reason the Principal (Paul Patterson) has been signing RAAYS letters as the "Principal / Board of Trustees Chairperson", particularly as I understand this has been happening since 2012 up until the middle of 2016 and there is no record of him ever being the Board of Trustees Chairperson.
Yours faithfully,
Howard Rait
From: Howard Rait
Dear Fergusson Intermediate (Trentham),
I am wondering why you have not responded yet again to the question I have asked, especially as you have been asked the same question four times. Can you please advise.
Yours faithfully,
Howard Rait
From: Rosamond Connelly
A reply to this official information act request is attached.
Kind regards,
Ros Connelly
Chairperson, Board of Trustees Fergusson Intermediate
Oliver Lineham (FYI.org.nz volunteer) left an annotation ()
On further investigation, a problem with our incoming mail queue prevented the above response appearing. I'm sorry. This has now been corrected. Thanks for your patience.
From: Howard Rait
Dear Rosamond Connelly,
Thank you for your reply dated 05 July 2017. Yet again yourself and therefore the School have been very vague in your reply to one of my OIA requests, and I still have not had a suitable answer.
Can you please inform myself and the others who monitor this website if you consider my request to be either frivolous or vexatious (as per your reply) as you have not stated which, and this will determine the next actions I take.
Yours sincerely,
Howard Rait
Luke C left an annotation ()
Howard
“Frivolous or vexatious” is a recognised legal phrase and your request can meet one or both and the Board does not need to explain which of the two your request matches.
You could potentially ask the Board for reasons for the refusal of your request, pursuant to section 23 of the OIA. However that may exhaust the Board's patience further, given they see your request as vexatious or frivolous.
Your best solution now would be to make a complaint to the Ombudsman for them to review and investigate the Board's refusal to disclose the information on reliance of 18(h). You may need to wait some months for the Ombudsman to actually investigate, as they have a high workload.
The test for whether a request is vexatious or frivolous can be found here:
http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/syste...
Howard Rait left an annotation ()
Thank you Luke, as this is question may be a minor point in its own right, is part of an ongoing much larger complaint against the School, Principal and Board of Trustees, who have either ignored or not answered this question correctly several times previously. It does however have a major implication on the overall complaint (to the Ombudsman) as Ros Connelly is well aware, and as such following the information you have provided, I do not believe it is frivolous or vexatious.
From: Howard Rait
Dear Rosamond Connelly,
Again thank you for your previous reply. As has been explained to myself (by Luke) you do not have to answer my previous question therefore I formally withdraw that question.
I am now requesting an answer from yourself as to why you and the Board of Trustees of Ferguson Intermediate School consider my original question to be "frivolous or vexatious".
Yours sincerely,
Howard Rait
Howard Rait left an annotation ()
Catherine Marks <catherine.marks@russellmcveagh.com> A lawyer from the legal firm Russell Mcveagh was engaged by the school and has advised this request has been refused (like all my other requests).
Luke C left an annotation ()
Howard
Like I said in an earlier response, your best bet is to make a complaint to the Ombudsman for them to review the Board's determination that your request is vexatious.
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
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Oliver Lineham (FYI.org.nz volunteer) left an annotation ()
The Chair has been in touch with FYI stating she sent her response by 5 July, but we do not have any record of it. I've asked her to re-send it and I will also investigate further to see if I can find a delivery problem on our side.
Link to this