Policies
Requesting Public Records from Danville Community College
"Rights & Responsibilities: The Rights of Requesters and the Responsibilities of
Danville Community College under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act"
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), located § 2.2-3700 et. seq.
of the Code of Virginia, guarantees citizens of the Commonwealth and
representatives of the media access to public records held by public bodies,
public officials, and public employees.
A public record is any writing or recording -- regardless of whether it is a
paper record, an electronic file, an audio or video recording, or any other
format -- that is prepared or owned by, or in the possession of a public body or
its officers, employees or agents in the transaction of public business. All
public records are presumed to be open, and may only be withheld if a specific,
statutory exemption applies.
The policy of FOIA states that the purpose of FOIA is to promote an increased
awareness by all persons of governmental activities. In furthering this policy,
FOIA requires that the law be interpreted liberally, in favor of access, and
that any exemption allowing public records to be withheld must be interpreted
narrowly.
Your FOIA Rights
• You have the right to request to inspect or receive copies of public records,
or both.
• You have the right to request that any charges for the requested records be
estimated in advance.
• If you believe that your FOIA rights have been violated, you may file a
petition in district or circuit court to compel compliance with FOIA.
Making a Request for records from Danville Community College
• You may request records by U.S. Mail, fax, e-mail, in person, or over the
phone. FOIA does not require that your request be in writing, nor do you need to
specifically state that you are requesting records under FOIA.
o From a practical perspective, it may be helpful to both you and the person
receiving your request to put your request in writing. This allows you to create
a record of your request. It also gives us a clear statement of what records you
are requesting, so that there is no misunderstanding over a verbal request.
However, we cannot refuse to respond to your FOIA request if you elect to not
put it in writing.
• Your request must identify the records you are seeking with "reasonable
specificity." This is a common-sense standard. It does not refer to or limit the
volume or number of records that you are requesting; instead, it requires that
you be specific enough so that we can identify and locate the records that you
are seeking.
• Your request must ask for existing records or documents. FOIA gives you a
right to inspect or copy records; it does not apply to a situation where you are
asking general questions about the work of Danville Community College, nor does
it require Danville Community College to create a record that does not exist.
• You may choose to receive electronic records in any format used by Danville
Community College in the regular course of business.
o For example, if you are requesting records maintained in an Excel database,
you may elect to receive those records electronically, via e-mail or on a
computer disk, or to receive a printed copy of those records
• If we have questions about your request, please cooperate with staff's efforts
to clarify the type of records that you are seeking, or to attempt to reach a
reasonable agreement about a response to a large request. Making a FOIA request
is not an adversarial process, but we may need to discuss your request with you
to ensure that we understand what records you are seeking.
To request records from Danville Community College, you may direct your request
to:
Andrea Burney, APR
Director of Public Relations
Danville Community College
434-797- 8458 (phone)
434-797- 8514 (fax)
aburney@dcc.vccs.edu
You may also contact the Public Relations Director with questions you have concerning requesting records
from Danville Community College.
In addition, the Freedom of Information Advisory Council is available to answer
any questions you may have about FOIA. The Council may be contacted by e-mail at
foiacouncil@leg.state.va.us, or by phone at (804) 225-3056 or [toll free]
1-866-448-4100.
Danville Community College's Responsibilities in Responding to Your Request
• Danville Community College must respond to your request within five working
days of receiving it. "Day One" is considered the day after your request is
received. The five-day period does not include weekends or holidays.
• The reason behind your request for public records from Danville Community
College is irrelevant, and we cannot ask you why you want the records before we
respond to your request. FOIA does, however, allow Danville Community College to
ask you to provide your name and legal address.
• FOIA requires that Danville Community College make one of the following
responses to your request within the five-day time period:
1. We provide you with the records that you have requested in their entirety.
2. We withhold all of the records that you have requested, because all of the
records are subject to a specific statutory exemption. If all of the records are
being withheld, we must send you a response in writing. That writing must
identify the volume and subject matter of the records being withheld, and state
the specific section of the Code of Virginia that allows us to withhold the
records.
3. We provide some of the records that you have requested, but withhold other
records. We cannot withhold an entire record if only a portion of it is subject
to an exemption. In that instance, we may redact the portion of the record that
may be withheld, and must provide you with the remainder of the record. We must
provide you with a written response stating the specific section of the Code of
Virginia that allows portions of the requested records to be withheld.
4. If it is practically impossible for Danville Community College to respond to
your request within the five-day period, we must state this in writing,
explaining the conditions that make the response impossible. This will allow us
seven additional working days to respond to your request, giving us a total of
12 working days to respond to your request.
• If you make a request for a very large number of records, and we feel that we
cannot provide the records to you within 12 days without disrupting our other
organizational responsibilities, we may petition the court for additional time
to respond to your request. However, FOIA requires that we make a reasonable
effort to reach an agreement with you concerning the production or the records
before we go to court to ask for more time.
Costs
• You may have to pay for the records that you request from Danville Community
College. FOIA allows us to charge for the actual costs of responding to FOIA
requests. This would include items like staff time spent searching for the
requested records, copying costs, or any other costs directly related to
supplying the requested records. It cannot include general overhead costs.
• If we estimate that it will cost more than $200 to respond to your request, we
may require you to pay a deposit, not to exceed the amount of the estimate,
before proceeding with your request. The five days that we have to respond to
your request does not include the time between when we ask for a deposit and
when you respond.
• You may request that we estimate in advance the charges for supplying the
records that you have requested. This will allow you to know about any costs
upfront, or give you the opportunity to modify your request in an attempt to
lower the estimated costs.
• If you owe us money from a previous FOIA request that has remained unpaid for
more than 30 days, Danville Community College may require payment of the
past-due bill before it will respond to your new FOIA request.
Commonly used exemptions
The Code of Virginia allows any public body to withhold certain records from
public disclosure. Danville Community College commonly withholds records subject
to the following exemptions:
• Personnel records (§ 2.2-3705.1 (1) of the Code of Virginia)
• Records subject to attorney-client privilege (§ 2.2-3705.1 (2)) or attorney
work product (§ 2.2-3705.1 (3))
• Vendor proprietary information (§ 2.2-3705.1 (6))
• Records relating to the negotiation and award of a contract, prior to a
contract being awarded (§ 2.2-3705.1 (12))
Copyright © 2012 by
Danville Community College
