Missouri AG hits Springfield Public Schools with eighth records request in one year
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt is once again seeking public records related to equity and diversity training from Springfield Public Schools.
It is the eighth Sunshine Law request Schmitt or an attorney from his office has filed with the state's largest district since October 2021.
Three of the early requests were filed after the district asked for a large deposit — more than $170,000 — to search for equity and diversity materials over a three-year period sought by state Rep. Craig Fishel.
In the latest, filed Aug. 26, general counsel James Atkins asks the district to turn over "all training presentations" and "all reports or project updates" — including any handouts or accompanying material — made since August 2021 by three employees of the district's Office for Equity and Diversity.
They include Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, chief equity and diversity officer, as well as Gwen Marshall and Lawrence "LA" Anderson.
Schmitt, who is running for U.S. Senate, previously filed a lawsuit against the district alleging Sunshine Law violations concerning a public records request related to critical race theory.
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Two days before the latest records request was filed, Schmitt retweeted Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.
The Aug. 24 tweet from Rufo, who describes himself online as a writer and activist, said: "SCOOP: The Springfield, Missouri public school district held a training program forcing teachers to identify their racial and sexual 'privilege,' promoting identities such as 'pansexual' and 'polyamorous,' and warning that 'misgendering a trans person is an act of violence.'"
Along with the retweet, Schmitt wrote: "Our Students First Initiative will investigate these very troubling materials."
In January 2021, Rufo wrote a post in the institute's online publication City Journal that alleged the Springfield district used critical race theory in its mandatory equity training for employees, which started in fall 2020.
Last week, in a post called "Radical Gender Theory Comes to the Heartland," he alleged the training, from more than two years ago, also included "radical gender-theory."
The district responded to the latest request Monday, saying it is "unsure whether, or to what extent, it has open public records that are responsive" to the request. As a result, the district said it needs until Sept. 9 to perform an initial search to assess the "extent and complexity of the broad search" required of the request.
During the pandemic, Schmitt has sued multiple districts over COVID-19 mask policies and requested materials and curriculum related to how they teach and discuss race, gender identity and equity in classrooms.
Controversy over COVID request
Prior to the August request, the attorney general's most recent Sunshine request to SPS was related to COVID-19:
June 8, 2022 — All documentation, records or announcements that include the count of active COVID cases of students and staff on a daily, weekly or overall basis for the 2021-22 school year.
In response, the district turned over a spreadsheet of more than 75 pages tracking the number of cases during the time period requested (with protected information, such as student names, removed).
The district turned over the "message template" used for a school-level or district notification to staff and parents and also sent a link to its weekly count, updated regularly on the SPS website.
In emails obtained by the News-Leader, three school board members — Steve Makoski, Kelly Byrne and Maryam Mohammadkhani — questioned the district's public response to Schmitt's requests, including an early June subpoena sent to Springfield and other districts regarding student surveys.
They characterized it as defiant, unhelpful and unpopular with some parents.
The district's statement, in its entirety, read:
"Public education remains a primary target of our state's attorney general, as demonstrated by his latest actions today. Springfield Public Schools will always comply with the law.
"Unfortunately, school districts across our state are incurring ongoing, significant legal fees to defend against ongoing allegations. Missouri taxpayers are incurring the cost of the attorney general's actions. These attacks are divisive at a time when we need to unify on behalf of our children."
In an email to Lathan, Makoski asked if the district was going to "gain the confidence of Missouri's leading legal authority or continue to position ourselves in opposition."
"Our AG is an elected official representing the people of Missouri, including those that question practices of public education. While SPS' statement casts aspersions on the AG, I don't feel that is an approach we should be engaged with," Makoski wrote. "Our statement opines that SPS will always comply with the law, while the real question is why has this landed on our doorstep and how will SPS move to satisfy the subpoena?"
Makoski added: "I don't believe our AG is in the business of creating frivolous lawsuits or engages in hearsay."
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Textbooks, COVID masking policy and lobbying expense
In addition to the district's pandemic policies, Schmitt and his office have filed requests related to school curriculum and lobbying efforts:
April 19, 2022 — All instructional textbooks adopted by the district for use in K-5 classrooms for the past 10 years.
In response, the district turned over details of the materials adopted, including the vendor, in English language arts, math, science and social studies.
The district explained that one item adopted was a "consumable," or a set of mentor texts and teacher lessons, not a textbook. Another adopted program was a digital platform, with videos and "leveled readers" along with science experiments.
Dec. 8, 2021 — Schmitt sent a "cease and desist" letter to SPS regarding "forced masking" and asked for district emails related to "unconstitutional health mandates," COVID mitigation protocols and any messages related to the Cole County Circuit Court's ruling in Robinson v. Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
In response, the district turned over more than 80 pages of emails.
Nov. 24, 2021 — The AG office asks for all contracts, including scope of work, for government affairs consulting services between the district and Zamkus & Associates LLC. He also sought all invoices for government affairs consulting services paid for by the district in 2020 and 2021.
In response, the district said it will provide the contract with Zamkus & Associates LLC but noted there were no invoices paid for government affairs consulting work in 2020 and 2021.
The district noted that John Jungmann, who was superintendent from mid-2014 until mid-2021, served as the district's legislative liaison from Jan. 1, 2015 through the end of his tenure.
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Multiple requests, lawsuit regarding Critical Race Theory
Schmitt's office filed three Sunshine Law requests on Oct. 5, 2021 related to an earlier request by state Rep. Fishel, a Republican from Springfield.
In September, Fishel filed a request seeking "all documents" related to teachers, staff training, and student curriculum that involved the following topics: Critical race theory, 1619 Project, Black Lives Matter, diversity equity and inclusion, culturally responsive education, implicit bias, intersectionality, systemic racism, restorative justice, white privilege, white fragility, oppression matrix, spirit murder, antiracism, racism, collective guilt, affinity spaces, colorism, microaggression, social justice, teaching tolerance, and learning for justice.
Fishel also sought any documents or materials related to the Pulitzer Center or the Zinn Education Project and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
He wanted any documents that fit that criteria from three school years, 2018-19 through 2020-21.
The district responded, saying it needed a sizable deposit of at least $170,240 to begin the wide-ranging search.
A month later, Schmitt's office filed three Sunshine Law requests:
Oct. 5, 2021 — Schmitt's office filed a request that mirrored the one filed a month earlier by Rep. Fishel.
The district's attorney, Ransom Ellis III, responded to the AG's office saying the request was "over broad" and declining the request to waive search and retrieval fees. Ellis said the timing of the district's compliance depended on when the office paid the deposit.
In a more detailed response on Nov. 5, the district pointed to some related material available online, provided the answers to some questions and asked for deposits — of $727 and $642 — to search and retrieve some additional records that may be applicable.
Oct. 5, 2021 — A list of all Sunshine Law requests, who they were filed by and what they sought, since Nov. 1, 2020 where the estimated cost of the search or redaction and retrieval cost $100 or more. The request also sought any requests where the fees were waived.
In response, the district said there were no requests during that period where the fees were waived. The district provided information for seven requests from six individuals where the estimate was $100 or more.
Those requests sought information on elementary math, high school math, payroll records, equity and diversity and gender identity.
Oct. 5, 2021 — A copy of the district's Sunshine Law policy and any response to Sunshine Law requests filed by different individuals, including Fishel and a News-Leader reporter, asking for equity and diversity materials, diversity training documents and critical race theory and related topics.
The district responded that the requests and responses were listed on the SPS website. The district noted two other requests, including one from the Show-Me Institute, had also been filed looking for related material and the responses to those were also available online.
In November 2021, following Fishel's original request and the trio of requests from the AG's office, Schmitt filed a lawsuit against the district alleging Sunshine Law violations. That case is still working its way through the courts.
Claudette Riley is the education reporter for the News-Leader. Email news tips to criley@news-leader.com.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield school district receives 8th AG record request in one year
