RI School Comm. Considers Suing Woman for Public Records Requests Questioning Critical Race Theory
Wednesday, June 02, 2021
A school committee in Rhode Island is threatening to sue a woman for filing what they said were 160 separate public records requests. However, the parent argues under state law the filings constitute just one, as they were filed within a 30 day period.
Now, the South Kingstown mother of a kindergartner, Nicole Solas, is firing back. The Town of South Kingstown initially demanded a nearly $10,000 bill for records retrieval related to her request for information about the school district’s implementation of “critical race and gender curriculum.”
On Wednesday night, the South Kingstown School Committee will meet, with one of the agenda items listed as “Discussion/Action: filing lawsuit against Solas to challenge filing of over 160 APRA requests.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSolas this week posted on the website “Legal Insurrection," making her case for inquiring about “questions which the School District would not answer” as it pertained to curriculum, stating she could “think of a dozen better ways [her] APRA requests could have been addressed.”
Filing APRAS Over Critical Race Theory
"My child is enrolled in kindergarten and I became concerned that Critical Race Theory (CRT) and gender theory were integrated into lessons when an elementary school principal told me that teachers don’t refer to students as 'boys' and 'girls,' wrote Solas, who explained how she began to seek out more information from town on the schools' curriculum
Solas said she began filing APRAs at the direction of a school committee member, after being unable to answers to questions she was asking school officials.
"After thirty days, I received an incomplete curriculum and filed an APRA complaint with the Attorney General," said Solas. "I started using the APRA request google link on the school district’s website to request public documents that might answer my questions about CRT, gender theory, and other concerns. When I requested the emails of a school committee member the estimate of what they would charge me came back as $9,570. Who can afford that?"
Solas said she amended her request to narrow the scope of requested emails to six months and requested digital copies instead of hard copies. "That $9,570 estimate dropped to $79.50," she said.
Now, the school committee is considering suing Solas for what they say was 160 requests -- and she fires back she is legally entitled to the information.
MORE BELOW MEETING AGENDA
"The most puzzling part of this shameful abuse of government power is that numerous attorneys with whom I’ve consulted cannot figure out the basis of a claim against me," said Solas. "There is no limit to submitting public record requests. Further, the APRA statute contemplates multiple requests made in a 30-day period for the purpose of cost. It states: '[M]ultiple requests from any person or entity to the same public body within a thirty (30) day time period shall be considered one request.' Accordingly, I did not submit 160 requests – I submitted one.'
Rhode Island ACLU Executive Director Steve Brown told GoLocal on Tuesday he believes the South Kingstown School Committee's response is "inappropriate."
"I can certainly understand the difficulties facing a municipal body when confronted with such a huge number of APRA requests in a short period of time," said Brown "However, I am also hopeful that, upon consideration, the school committee will recognize that suing a resident for this activity is not an appropriate response."
Neither Solas nor South Kingstown School Committee Chair Emily Cummiskey responded to request for comment on Tuesday.
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