6 months later, Pender Co. Schools hasn’t released requested info on bond projects

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — More than six months after WWAY made a public records request to Pender County Schools, the school district still has not released the bulk of the information requested.

On Nov. 28, 2016, WWAY requested via e-mail from PCS “public records created between Nov. 1, 2014, and Nov. 28, 2016, including e-mails and other written communication to or from the superintendent, school board members (as the board as a whole or to individuals in their capacity as school board members), the school board attorney and district’s chief financial officer that pertain to the 2014 School Bond and the projects to be built with its proceeds.”

The request was made following several delays and meetings between the county and school district about work to renovate and build several schools in the county. The projects were to be paid for through a $75 million bond issuance voters approved in 2014. But by fall of 2016, county leaders expressed frustration about unexpected cost overruns for the work that left the school district trying to figure out how to cut costs, including cutting back features of the projects that had been promised to voters.

Commissioners even criticized the school district for a lack of transparency and for how long it took the district to reveal issues with funding.

The commission eventually approved nearly $4 million in additional funds for the projects.

A day after WWAY submitted its request, the district’s communications coordinator Miranda Roberts acknowledged receipt of the request.

On Jan. 9, WWAY e-mailed Roberts to follow up on the request six weeks after its submission. She did not respond. Two days later, the station sent a follow-up e-mail again asking for an update.

“We are in the final stages of fulfilling the request,” Roberts responded.

Four weeks after that response, PCS still had not shared any records with WWAY. That led to another request for an update on the morning of Feb. 6. On the afternoon of the following day, Roberts responded.

“The request is currently undergoing legal review by our attorney to ensure no confidential personnel or student information is released,” Roberts responded.

Two more months went by. In that time, Roberts got married and changed her last name to Ferguson. On April 6, Pender County Schools Superintendent Terri Cobb announced her retirement effective Oct. 1 prompting WWAY to again reach out to the district’s spokeswoman for an update.

“Your request was quite large,” wrote Ferguson née Roberts. “Our attorneys are in the process of reviewing it to ensure the attorney/client privilege is maintained. Once that review is complete, you will receive the requested records.”

On May 10, WWAY again reached out to Ferguson to find out why the request still had not been fulfilled. The station reminded Ferguson that the original request, made nearly six months earlier, stated that WWAY would accept the records as they were available and did not require all of the records at once. Two days later, Ferguson sent WWAY a partial response to the request in the form of a 683-page PDF filed that included mostly copies of meeting agenda, contracts and other documents relating to the bids associated with the renovation and construction work.

“The remainder of this request is still being reviewed by our attorneys,” Ferguson wrote. “Please know that we are working to accommodate this request, and our attorneys are reviewing documents to ensure no confidential student or personnel information is included.”

As of June 8, the school district had not shared any more records as part of the request. That day, WWAY e-mailed Ferguson again asking for an update. She did not reply.

On June 15, WWAY resent the e-mail asking again for an update. That afternoon Ferguson responded.

“I greatly apologize that this request has taken so long to fulfill,” she wrote. “We have sent everything to our attorneys for review and have sent you everything we have received to date.”

Ferguson also wrote that she had just spoken by phone with the district’s attorney and that an update would be available by the end of the day. Indeed, three hours later she responded again.

“I’ve been informed that the documents you’ve requested will be available Monday, June 18 (sic),” she wrote.

Monday’s date was June 19.

Late Monday afternoon, WWAY had still not received any of the requested and promised documents. Ferguson has not responded to another e-mail asking for an update.

“While I understand the need to make sure protected information is not released, the amount of time taken on this request is exorbitant. We made it clear in our initial request and several times since that we would accept the records as they were available. I believe that makes it easier on everyone, especially when the scope of the request is so large,” WWAY News Director Kevin Wuzzardo said. “Public record laws are intended to make sure we can all know what’s going on within the agencies we pay for as taxpayers. Delays like this serve only to enhance the distrust and skepticism many people have in government.”