 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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February 27, 2009 Ms. Bertha Bailey Whatley Fort Worth Independent School District Office of Legal Services 100 North University Drive Fort Worth, Texas 76107 OR2009-02601 Dear Ms. Whatley: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 335987. The Fort Worth Independent School District (the "district") received a request for the surveys conducted by the Western Hills High School Campus Coordinating Committee on a specified date. You claim the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. (1) Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses information protected by other statutes, including section 21.355 of the Education Code, which provides, "[a] document evaluating the performance of a teacher or administrator is confidential." Educ. Code § 21.355. In addition, the court has concluded a written reprimand constitutes an evaluation for purposes of section 21.355 because "it reflects the principal's judgment regarding [an administrator's] actions, gives corrective direction, and provides for further review." North East Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Abbott, 212 S.W.3d 364 (Tex. App.--Austin 2006, no pet.). This office has interpreted this section to apply to any document that evaluates, as that term is commonly understood, the performance of a teacher or administrator. Open Records Decision No. 643 (1996). This office has determined that the word "administrator" in section 21.355 means a person who is required to and does in fact hold an administrator's certificate under subchapter B of chapter 21 of the Education Code and is performing the functions of an administrator, as that term is commonly defined, at the time of the evaluation. Id. You seek to withhold the requested surveys under section 21.355. You explain the surveys were used to evaluate certified administrators in the district who are within the purview of section 21.355. Based on your representations and our review, we find the submitted information is confidential under section 21.355 of the Education Code and must be withheld in its entirety pursuant to section 552.101 of the Government Code. This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General at (512) 475-2497. Sincerely, Jordan Hale Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division JH/jb Ref: ID# 335487 Enc. Submitted documents cc: Requestor (w/o enclosures)
1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative
of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open
records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records
to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this
office. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |