Custodian of Records
South Kingstown Public Schools
307 Curtis Corner Rd
Wakefield, RI 02879
Dear Custodian of Records:
This is a public records request.
Under the Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act, §38-2-1 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to obtain copies of public records that pertain to the school’s library, the school’s librarians and media specialists and library volunteers, their connections with the state’s library association and the American Library Association, and anything related to a particularly heinous form of state-sponsored racism commonly called critical race theory, among other things. Specifics on what I seek follow below.
If there are any fees for searching or copying these records, please inform me if the cost will exceed $150. However, I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of how public school librarians and media specialists, influenced by library associations that bring in trainers to train school librarians and media specialists on how to teach critical race theory to children, contribute to the indoctrination of racism into the minds of school children nationwide.
I am Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries® Brand Library Education Services who has for over two decades exposed how policies promulgated by the American Library Association harm children, local communities, and even librarians themselves. My cybersafety work has been cited in over a dozen United States utility patents. I publish my findings and make them available at no cost, and my findings are discussed in library schools worldwide. More information about me here: https://tinyurl.com/AboutDan
I am a representative of the news media and my request is related to news gathering purposes. This information is not being sought for commercial purposes. I again request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and more, as stated above and in §38-2-4.
I am not related to nor am I working for Nicole Solas, though I support her open government efforts to obtain documentation from public schools as she sees fit. Her requests pertain to school teachers and school administration whereas mine pertain to school libraries and school librarians.
Here are the generalities of this request:
- This request is limited to documents created during 2019, 2020, and 2021.
- This request is limited to the South Kingstown School District’s librarians, media specialists, and library volunteers, both those employed or volunteering in the past (2019-2021) and those currently employed or volunteering.
- Librarians comprise accredited librarians, library employees, media specialists, and library volunteers associated with school district libraries and the provision of library-related services. One does not need to have attended nor been graduated from an American Library Association accredited library school to be considered a librarian for the purposes of this public records request. Library volunteers comprise those who work in public libraries and not in school libraries and who also volunteer for school libraries. Hereafter, for brevity, all will be termed “librarians.”
- This request is not limited to the school’s assigned email addresses. “Librarians” have been trained to use personal email accounts and media sites to effect communications intended to be hidden from the public and from public disclosure laws. As such, documents requested herein should also come from the personal emails and accounts when they pertain to the documents being sought. Of course redact any personal email addresses and telephones.
- This request is not limited to email addresses in the To and Cc addresses. It also includes the Bcc addresses. Bcc addresses are for the convenience of the Sender and are not a means to evade open government laws.
- This request is limited to documents, but it is not limited to only electronic documents. It includes written documents. For example, it includes handwritten notes taken by “librarians” while in attendance at any trainings. The American Library Association has advised its trainees not to respond to FOIA requests for notes on the claim that they contain material that is proprietary to the American Library Association and taken during trainings closed to the public. But such declarations are not of concern to open government laws, so such documentation must still be produced.
- Please do not redact any non-exempt information on the documents.
- Please do not destroy the documents requested then claim they do not exist, no matter who advises “librarians” to destroy public records. The American Library Association has done this in the past to prevent disclosure of the crime of child pornography viewing in public libraries.
- All documents should be clear of imperfections that result from poor copy quality. For example, hand written notes should be completely readable and not appear too light or too dark to read. Unreadable documents are non responsive documents.
- All documents should be produced as PDFs, except for photographs (that should be JPEG), audio files (that should be MP3), and video (that should be MP4 or MOV). Handwritten documents can be scanned into PDFs. If the document files are too large to transmit in one single email, I authorize you to transmit them to me either using a free file sharing service such as DropBox or to send multiple emails (as many as required to send all documents being provided).
- All documents are to be provided electronically. Documents made available for personal inspection are intentionally not responsive to this public records request as I will not make a personal appearance to inspect such records, nor is that required by the law.
Here are the specifics of the request, given the generalities to be applied from above:
- Provide documents showing the attendance of all “librarians” at online and in person meetings of any kind, including trainings and conferences, sponsored by the Rhode Island Library Association or any of its subdivisions. Documents are to include financial receipts for payment of related expenses, attendance sheets from such events, lists of events attended, notes by hand or electronically recording during such events, recording of such events, links to recordings of such events, handouts from such events, links to handouts from such events, listings of books and other reading materials including online sources such as EBSCO received from such events, awards or certifications obtained at such events, and emails pertaining to such events.
- Provide documents as described in #1 above, only with respect to the American Library Association or any of its subdivisions, such of the Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF), the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF), Banned Books Week (BBW), etc.
- Provide documents as described in #1 above, only with respect to the school district itself or school superintendents or principals themselves.
- Provide transcripts of all “librarians” who spoke at any local public meetings including school board meetings and provide the full transcripts and meeting notes of such meetings. Such documentation should include the identity and date of the meeting.
- Provide documents created by all “librarians” containing the following words and phrases: critical race theory, crt, social emotional learning, social and emotional learning, social learning, emotional learning, social and emotional competencies, sel, tsel, 1619 project, howard zinn, zinn education project, equity, gender, gender unicorn, masturbation, anal, top surgery, front hole, chestfeeding, chest feeding, gender pronouns, breast binder, breast binding, PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis, implicit bias, drag queen, drag queens, drag queen story hour, drag queen story time, dqsh, dqst, diversity, inclusion, social justice, white fragility, black lives matter, latinx, acting white, white supremacy, white privilege, kendi, ibram kendi, ibram x kendi, n hannah jones, hannah jones, nikole jones, nikole hannah-jones, ida bae wells, whiteness, bipoc, deangelo, diangelo, robin diangelo, antiracist, antiracists, critlib, #critlib, T.A.S.K. or TASK (Towards an Antiracist South Kingstown).
- Provide documents showing that the people who responded to this public records request have within the past twelve months been provided orientation and training regarding Access to Public Records Act, §38-2, as required in §38-2-3.16.
The Rhode Island Access to Public Records Act requires a response time within ten business days. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than this amount of time, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies of the requested records.
If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.
Thank you for considering my request.
Sincerely,
Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries® Brand Library Education Services
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