ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A Tallahassee law firm has put the school district on notice that it will be taken to court if it doesn’t promptly produce public records first requested in June about a contract with a computer software company.

Attorneys Edwin Bayo and Bill Furlow declined to say who they represent in their attempt to get documents and e-mails between St. Lucie County schools and Skyward Inc., a Stevens Point, Wis.-based supplier of school administrative software. The district began seeking a contractor in 2007 and Skyward’s software came online this summer.

“The public records request would show that (Skyward) has contracted with the St. Lucie County school board,” Bayo said in a phone interview Wednesday from Tallahassee, “and at various times they have represented that they were fully (Florida Department of Education) compliant in school reporting.

“We want to know if they are,” Bayo said.

In a letter dated Tuesday, Bayo wrote that his law firm made a June 15 request for six categories of documents. They span a time frame starting in 2007, when the district advertised formal proposals for software. Other records requested include e-mails between school district employees and Skyward, and financial documents detailing money paid by the school district to Skyward.

District Director of Communications Janice Karst replied that it would take 40 hours of work to comply with the records request and Bayo said his law firm tendered a check for nearly $1,457 to cover the district’s cost.

“We didn’t hear from them for five weeks,” Bayo said. “Then we got a smattering of documents, with no indication of whether more were to come.

“At that point, you wonder if you’re being stalled,” he added.

Bayo’s letter to school officials said his firm would petition a court to force compliance with public records law if he did not get a reply within seven days. He said school officials assured him Tuesday that they would comply.

Karst said she believes Skyward’s contract with St. Lucie County schools was worth about $3 million. She said school officials responded as quickly as they could to the law firm’s June request.

“I had to go back to them and say, ‘I haven’t heard from you in a while. Do you still want us to do this?’” Karst said Wednesday. “They weren’t knocking on our door the whole time.”

Ray Ackerlund, Skyward’s director of marketing, said Wednesday that he didn’t know for sure who was behind the public records request by attorneys. Ackerlund said he was puzzled at the request for school district correspondence from January 2008 to the present about his company’s system producing state-compliant reports, because this is the first school year it’s been in use.

“There have not been any state reports due since it’s been on-line,” Ackerlund said.

School district attorney Dan Harrell said the contracts and documents requested by the law firm were promptly sent electronically, but that a spam filter apparently blocked that transmission. Hard copies were sent after this was discovered, Harrell said.

The remaining request for e-mails between Skyward, school employees and the Department of Education will involve school personnel reviewing thousands of messages to ensure that confidential student information isn’t accidently included, he added.

By James Kirley, TCPalm.com

Tags: accident, attorney, communication, computer, computers, contract, court, education, Florida, informant, money, Schools, students, Tallahassee

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