Focus on TUSD - August 2007

From the Director of Communciations & Media Relations
I hope you enjoy the first issue of Focus for the 2007-2008 school year. Staff members in Communications & Media Relations bring you up-to-date news and information on TUSD and its students, employees, schools and departments. Sharon Dunham researches and writes most of the stories that appear. Jes Ruvalcaba shoots most of the gorgeous photographs you see in Focus. Ginger Bidwell does the layout and design of the print version, while Cathy Thwing handles those functions for the online version of the Focus.

We enjoy sharing your stories with co-workers and members of the community. Focus has a wide distribution outside of the District, and the feedback we receive always is positive. Also positive are our relationships with news reporters who regularly cover the District.

In order to allow reporters to do their jobs, and to allow us to do ours, we need your help.

Because TUSD is an institution of learning, access to our schools must be controlled. We do not want to disrupt the educational process for a news story. This year, as in previous ones, we ask employees who are contacted by reporters to refer them to Communications & Media Relations, where we can help schedule interviews during appropriate times and provide parental permission forms.

We also ask that employees contact our office before going to the media with a story idea. Again, we can help with scheduling and permission forms, but we also may be able to bring clarity to a frustrating situation if the impulse is to call a media outlet to bring attention to a problem.

In our desire to keep you informed about pending news stories, we now will notify you when we receive Freedom of Information requests from media outlets. The Freedom of Information Act states that any person has the right to request access to records, documents or information from a public entity. Upon receiving a written request, the entity, in this case TUSD, is required to provide the records, etc., except those that are protected from disclosure.

Our department consults with Legal Services before releasing any documents. Legal Services reviews documents and redacts confidential information before allowing us to release the information. We hope advance notice of news stories will allow you to be better prepared to respond to inquiries from students, parents and friends

These are two requests for which we have provided documents; the stories are pending:

1. "Electronic copies of TUSD district-wide (elementary, middle and high school) grade reports from '01-'02 school year through '06-'07 school year;" and the same request for summer school from the same period. Names of students are not part of the request, but "class year, school name, school code, student's year in school, subject code, course code, term type (e.g. semester versus quarter), letter grade, grade value, course credit value and course title" are.
2. Any and all documents reflecting the salaries, wages, benefits or other compensation for employees of the district. (Requests for salary and wage information have been submitted by two organizations.)

If you have suggestions for news stories - for Focus or media outlets - please e-mail Sharon Dunham at Sharon.Dunham@tusd1.org. We want to share your wonderful stories throughout TUSD and the Tucson community.

Have a great year,

Chyrl Hill Lander
Director
Communications & Media Relations