Here in Missouri we have the Sunshine Law which is similar to the Federal FOIA laws. There is some information I would like to get from our local school board, but I don't know if it's a "record", and if it is, in what format it would be available.

For specific examples, two of the things I'm looking for:

Our school district has released the total number of students and staff that tested postive for covid last year. They have also released the total number of those quarantined.

What they haven't told us is how many of those quarantined later tested positive, and of those that tested positive how many were contact traced back to school exposure.

The district also sent out an e-mail survey to parents regarding masks being worn in school. They have told us that the majority of parents were against a mask mandate, but did not provide any additional numbers.

I would like to know how many surveys were sent, how many responses were received, and the break down of those responses.


Are these types of things something I can compel from the district via a request like this?

We have a similar law in Florida and that information would be fair game here. I don't know whether your law is different than ours which may lead to different results. Why not give it a shot? They either have the data and give it to you, have the data and refuse, or don't have it. Seems like any of those responses would be useful (albeit for proving different points).

I'll start with the email survey question as that one is the easiest to answer. They should be able to provide you with the numbers you are requesting. Don't be surprised if the overall number responding is low. We typically see 30% (ish) respond to the online surveys. I would just call your district supt and see if they will just give you those numbers. I know ours would.

With regards to the tracing question, that one is a bit harder. With our district, the number positive and quarantined due to contact tracing was tracked and posted on the district website. After that, any additional information wasn't kept by the district. Once either the positive or contact information was sent to the health dept, I don't believe we received any of the info you are looking for. It would be very difficult to say for certain if someone was exposed at school or somewhere else.

You can shoot me an email at the address in my profile if I can help any further.