SAN ANTONIO – In the midst of widespread infrastructure issues last month that forced the San Antonio Independent School District to temporarily close its campuses, Superintendent Dr. Jaime Aquino repeatedly mentioned the need for transparency.
In a letter to SAISD staff on Jan. 18, Aquino wrote that he would continue to follow through with a promise to lead with transparency and honesty, as human error and faulty equipment caused many of the district’s heating systems to break down.
Recommended Videos
Days later, as the schools reopened, Aquino again cited a “spirit of transparency” when describing past funding the district had spent on trying to make infrastructure improvements.
Last week, however, SAISD officials took a much different approach when responding to records requests from KSAT for internal district communications about the freezing weather-related school closures.
KSAT requested a copy of emails and text messages between Aquino, the district’s maintenance and facilities department, board members and district administrators.
On Feb. 1, SAISD’s director of public information informed KSAT via email that the district would require a full payment of $2,319.40 to begin processing the request.
The district took the unusual additional step of requesting full payment while maintaining the ability to ask the Texas Attorney General’s Office for a ruling that would allow it to potentially withhold all of the records.
Public entities routinely request full payment prior to fulfilling large records requests.
KSAT Investigates, however, cannot recall a single instance in which a public entity has asked for payment while stating it would send the records to the AG’s office for a ruling, a process that typically adds 2-3 months to the timeline of records being released.
“At this time, we are not seeking a ruling from the AG because we forwarded a cost estimate letter and are awaiting your response. As stated in the letter, within the next 10 days you can either pay the cost, modify the request, or file a complaint with the Attorney General. If you do submit payment, as per §552.263(e) (of the Texas Government Code) your request is considered to have been received on the date the payment is made, and we would then begin to gather the records and review them. After review, we would then determine whether we would seek an AG ruling or release the records to you if we do not,” Policies, Procedures and Public Information Director Julissa M. Herrera wrote via email on Feb. 2.
SAISD officials have not responded to multiple follow-up emails from KSAT asking what happens to the money if SAISD later seeks a ruling and is ordered to withhold the records in question.
In their invoice letters, SAISD revealed that the requests from KSAT could potentially generate 1,075 emails and that 211 people could potentially have sent or received text messages during the time period specified by KSAT.
During last month’s school closures, Aquino accepted the resignations of Ken Thompson, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, and Mike Eaton, Chief of Operations.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.