The Director of Schools shall maintain all school district records required by law, regulation, and Board policy. The records maintained, unless prohibited by federal or state law or regulation, shall be made available for inspection during business hours to any citizen of Tennessee. A request for multiple or voluminous copies of open public records may be subject to a reasonable reimbursement of costs.  

No records pertaining to individual students will be released for inspection by the public or any unauthorized persons. Please visit https://www.knoxschools.org/Page/2107 for information related to the Student Educational Record Policy (J-552). Additionally, any information, records, and plans related to security and safety will not be released for public inspection. Other exceptions may apply.  

All requests to inspect or receive copies of records shall be submitted to the district’s Director of Public Affairs ("Director"). The Director shall forward requests for inspection or copies of records to the district’s Open Records Coordinator ("Coordinator"). 

REQUESTS FOR INSPECTION  

Tennessee citizens or members of the media requesting to inspect public records should complete and submit the Records Request Form to the Director. Requests may be made in person during normal business hours, in writing or by electronic mail (email). The Director's contact information is Director of Public Affairs, Knox County Schools, P.O. Box 2188, Knoxville, Tennessee 37901-2188; and openrecords@knoxschools.org.

The Director shall forward the request to the Coordinator. The Coordinator will then contact the requestor to confirm receipt of the request and indicate when the records will be available to inspect. If the records cannot be made available within seven (7) business days, the Coordinator shall indicate the time needed to complete the request and the reason for the delay. Every effort will be made to satisfy requests as quickly as possible.  

If the request to inspect is denied, the Coordinator shall provide the requestor with a records request denial letter stating the basis for the denial.  

The Coordinator shall make a copy of original documents for inspection and ensure confidential information is redacted pursuant to T.C.A. §10-7-504 and other applicable law. Original documents should remain intact.  

The Coordinator shall notify the requestor once the records are available for inspection. A valid form of photo identification, for logging purposes, will be required to inspect copies of records.  No photocopying of any type is permitted when inspecting records.  If any copies are requested at or following the inspection, charges will apply for the copies and labor related to said copies.  See below. 

REQUESTS FOR COPIES  

Tennessee citizens, including media members, requesting copies of public records shall complete and submit the Records Request Form to the Director. Requests may be made in person during normal business hours, in writing or by electronic mail (email). See contact information above.  

The Director shall forward the request to the Coordinator. The Coordinator will then contact the requestor to confirm receipt of the request and indicate when the records will be available. If the records cannot be made available within seven (7) business days, the Coordinator shall indicate the time needed to complete the request and the reason for the delay. Every effort will be made to satisfy requests as quickly as possible.  

If the request for copies is denied, the Coordinator shall provide the requestor with a records request denial letter detailing the basis for the denial.  The Coordinator shall make a copy of original documents and ensure confidential information is redacted pursuant to T.C.A. §10-7-504 and other applicable law. Original documents should remain intact.  

The Coordinator shall notify the requestor once the records are available. A valid form of photo identification, for logging purposes, will be required to receive copies of records.  

REASONABLE CHARGES  

For multiple copies or voluminous requests, the Coordinator shall provide an estimate of the reasonable costs to produce the requested records. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Office of Open Records Counsel Schedule of Reasonable Charges For Copies of Public Records found at https://www.comptroller.tn.gov/openrecords/forms.asp shall be used to determine the reasonable cost. 

The Coordinator will provide the district's Finance Department with information to produce an invoice detailing the charges associated with the request. The Finance Department shall send the invoice to the citizen/media outlet and track payments.  The citizen/media outlet shall pay the reasonable costs by check, money order, or cash prior to receipt of the copies produced.  

In accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated 10-7-503(a)(7)(c), the hourly labor rate for fulfilling requests for copies is Twenty-Five Dollars ($25.00) per hour. There is no charge for the first hour of work per state law and one additional hour is complimentary with Knox County Schools. Any copies made for the requestor will incur a charge of $.15 per page for each standard 8 1/2 x 11 or 8 1/2 x 14 black and white copy produced, or a charge of $.50 cents per page for each 8 1/2 x11 or 8 1/2 x 14 color copy produced. The first ten pages will be provided free of charge.  Copy charges are not incurred when records are provided electronically; however, labor charges still apply.  

FREQUENT AND MULTIPLE REQUESTS  

The names of all persons inspecting records and the date of inspection shall be recorded. When the total number of requests for copies made by a requestor within a calendar month exceeds four (4), the requestor may be charged a fee for any and all labor that is reasonably necessary to produce copies of the requested records in excess of four requests. Prior to charging a reasonable fee, the requestor shall be notified of this policy and provided with a Notice of Aggregation of Multiple Requestors form. The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Office of Open Records Counsel Schedule of Reasonable Charges found at https://www.comptroller.tn.gov/openrecords/forms.asp shall be used to determine the reasonable cost. 

REDACTIONS  

Prior to producing any record for inspection, the Coordinator shall make a copy of original documents and ensure confidential information is redacted. Though information redacted may vary among requests, the following information will not be provided to citizen/media requesters:

• Social Security number
• Birthday • Height
• Weight
• Home address
• Phone number (home or cell)
• Personal e-mail address
• Driver’s license number (unless driving is part of the employee’s job)
• Medical information, history, or background
• Fingerprint, background checks, or drug tests
• Employee number
• Teaching certificate number
• Teacher evaluations  

Any other information that may be considered sensitive should be evaluated by the Coordinator with the Director, the Knox County Law Department and other necessary personnel. Additionally, should information particular to any student be included in a file, whether by form of complaint, incident report, etc., any and all information to aid in identifying said student should also be redacted, including, but not limited to: name, age, grade, gender, address, phone number, height, weight, medical information, student classification, etc.