Free Randi Weingarten's Personnel File

Is it the slow-moving nature of bureaucracy or is it politics that has turned a simple Freedom of Information Law request into a 94-day wait?

On December 20, 2010, Education Action Group filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the New York City Department of Education. The request was for the personnel file of former New York City employee Rhonda (Randi) Weingarten, who is now the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers union.

After missing its first two deadlines, the DOE now says that information will not be available until late March. It is our plan to post it for America to see at PublicSchoolSpending.com.

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On December 27, 2010, one week after EAG’s initial request, we received an e-mail response from the Office of Legal Services of the New York City Department of Education saying that the FOIL request had been received.

“We anticipate providing you with a response by January 26, 2011,” the letter read.

When the first deadline came, EAG received another e-mail saying that “due to the volume and complexity of the requests we receive and process,” more time was needed to answer the FOIL request. “Accordingly, we anticipate a response by February 24, 2011,” the letter read.

Yesterday, EAG received yet another e-mail from the DOE that pushes the response date back another full month.

Again, “the volume and complexity of requests” was cited as the reason. “Accordingly, we anticipate a response by March 24, 2011,” the letter read.

Rhonda (Randi) Weingarten’s personnel file from her days as a history teacher at Clara Barton High School in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights is considered public information that is open to public inspection. Because Weingarten’s teaching career was brief (from 1991 to 1997), we believe our request is neither voluminous nor complex, and should be easy to process.

Given that Weingarten is now the president of the powerful, 1.4 million-member AFT, we wonder if politics is the real reason for the long delay.

EAG has attempted to reach DOE officials for clarification of the delay, but our attempts have gone unanswered.

Free the file.

Our request of Randi Weingarten’s personnel file is simple, straightforward and legal. I hope the New York’s education establishment is not putting politics ahead of the public’s right to know.