Disclaimer: Prior results do not guarantee a similar

outcome.

How Can I FOIL the NYC DOE?

(5 min): Write down one question or
comment you have about FOIL on
the Post-It Note provided to you.

This workshop will:

Provide you with a step by step guide on
how to write a Freedom of Information
Request and Appeal to the NYC DOE.
Give you ideas of how to FOIL process
works should you want to FOIL another City
or State agency (youll have to do your own
digging on whom the Record Access Officer
is!)
Provide examples of things you can ask for
via FOIL.
Teach you how to craft an appeal.

This workshop will NOT:

Teach you how to hack the DOE
servers to acquire unlimited, topsecret information, records, or
intelligence.
Guarantee that you can get your
records 100% of the time.
Teach you how to write an Article 78
appeal for records.
Bore you!

Lets Talk:
What do you want to get out of this session?
Have you FOILed before?
What records did you ask for?

FOIL and the DOE

The FOIL Unit is part of the Office

of the General Counsel (Legal).

You will deal with the following
folks:
Charity Guerra (General Counsel

and Records Appeals Officer)

Joseph A. Baranello (Central
Records Access Officer)
Semira Ansari (Agency Attorney)
Natacha Beaufils (handles clerical
work)
Milo Alba (handles clerical work)
Senior Field Counsel (see, http:
//schools.nyc.
gov/Offices/GeneralCounsel/Legal/
SFC/default.htm)

Things You Can FOIL (from the DOEs

FOIL Unit)
Principals Procurement Card (P-Card) statements
OSI investigative memos and reports*
Emails from NYC DOE Outlook (about you or
someone else)
Audits of your school
Expenditures from Title I, II, III, ELL grants, etc.
Observation reports*
Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR)
forms*
Personnel files
WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU FOILED?
* Information to be revealed about this record at end
of presentation.

STEP 1: IDENTIFY WHAT YOU WANT TO

GET AND WHOM TO CONTACT
WHOM SHOULD I CONTACT?
Address your email to the DOEs Central Records
Access Officer Joseph A. Baranello
(JBaranello3@schools.nyc.gov and FOIL@schools.
nyc.gov)
You can CC and BCC whomever you wish!
Personally, I like to CC Ms. Guerra, Tish James,
the Mayor, Chancellor, local congresspeople/senators from the neighborhood
associated with the records, politicians from my
district, and Mr. Baranellos supervisors (Judy
Nathan and Robin Greenfield).

STEP 1: IDENTIFY WHAT YOU WANT TO

GET AND WHOM TO CONTACT
WHAT DO I WANT?
Be specific in terms of time frame
and specific people!
Mr. Baranello (while obligated to by
the Regulations of the NYS
Committee on Open Government)
will NOT help you with rephrasing
or clarification!

Think fast:
Which of the following is the better way to list
records sought within a FOIL request:
1.

All emails on servers that are accessible by

personnel employed by DIIT and that either
originated at, or were received by, the
following accounts, from August 2012 to
present with Smiley in the subject or body of
the emails: MSmith2@schools.nyc.gov and
JBrown1@schools.nyc.gov.

2. All of Mary Smiths and Joseph Browns

emails.

Think fast:
Which of the following is the better way
to list records sought within a FOIL
request:
1.

All emails on servers that are

accessible by personnel employed by
DIIT and that either originated at, or
were received by, the following
accounts, from August 2012 to present Just right!
with Smiley in the subject or body ofTimeframe
the emails: MSmith2@schools.nyc.gov Subject
and JBrown1@schools.nyc.gov.

Dont worry, FOIL

will delay anyway!

2. All of Mary Smiths and Joseph Brown

s emails.

From what time frame?

About whom or what?
Too ambiguous! Not specific!

STEP 2: DRAFTING YOUR LETTER

Please review the section of COOG for a
model letter.
http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/emailrequest.html

STEP 3: BEFORE YOU SEND!

If the materials are about you, YOU should be

the sender of the FOIL request. Or else, you

will get this little message from Mr. Baranello
or Ms. Ansari in your response letter (months
or even years later):

Otherwise, I strongly advise you to have a

person who is NOT a DOE employee (past or

present) and whose surname is DIFFERENT
FROM YOURS to send out the FOIL letter
for you!

What does Public Officers Law 87,

Section 2 mean in plain English?
You can go to http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/foil2.html#s87
An agency may deny parts of a record if this record falls into the
following categories:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

f.
g.
h.
i.

State/federal law prohibits disclosure.

The record is an unwarranted invasion of privacy. **
Collective bargaining would be negatively affected by disclosure.
Business rights would be hurt by revealing records that are trading
secrets or agreements.
Law enforcement practices that if revealed would deprive people of
civil rights or interfere with law enforcement investigations or
judicial proceedings
Disclosure would put someone in danger. *
See next slide!
Test questions revealed prior to administration of exam is
unscrupulous.
The record, if revealed, would put agencys IT infrastructure at risk
for hacking/sabotage.

What does Public Officers Law 87,

Section 2 mean in plain English?
G. An agency may deny access to records or portions thereof that are
inter-agency (between several) or intra-agency (within one) materials
which are not:
i. statistical or factual tabulations or data;
ii. instructions to staff that affect the public;
iii. final agency policy or determinations; or
iv. external audits, including but not limited to audits performed by the
comptroller and the federal government
The DOE will cite (g) and (b) excessively in their appeals.
The NYPD loves to cite (e) and (f).

STEP 4: THE LOOOOOONG WAIT!

6 months to 2 years of waiting before you get your records
is COMMON.
Keep track of ALL letters (PDFs) Ms. Beaufils sends you, as
attachments to a transmittal email, pertaining to your
FOIL requests. You will need them if access to records is
denied either in whole or in part, and you wish to appeal!
Use an Excel spreadsheet to make note of the following:
When you sent the email
The content of the email
When you got the acknowledgment email
The dates of the monthly extension letters you got from
the FOIL Unit as well as the dates that it was alleged a
request will be determined by.

Disclaimer: Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

STEP 5: THE APPEAL PROCESS

Your final response letter will contain statutory exemptions and may
contain citations in situations where there is a complete or partial
denial of access. Mr. Baranello or Ms. Chasan will quote:
Statutory exemptions from the list contained in FOIL 87(2).
FOIL Advisory Opinions from the NYS Committee on Open
Government or case law (court decisions).
Teach yourself the case law and be ready to appeal them, especially
if you need these records for a court case of your own.

Disclaimer: Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

STEP 5: THE APPEAL PROCESS

You could (and SHOULD) email the following folks
for an advisory opinion on how to deal with redactions
or denial of access:
Robert J. Freeman: Robert.Freeman@dos.ny.gov
Is FOIL delaying too long? Go here: http://tinyurl.
com/j2jp89b

How do I search for Advisory

opinions on my own?
1. Go to www.dos.ny.
gov/coog

2. Go to FOIL on the
orange bar. From the dropdown menu, select:
Advisory Opinions. Click
it.
3. Type in keywords
(emails,
investigation,
receipts) into Search
bar. OR, look up
keywords /phrases
in ABC order.

What cases can I use?

Lewis v. Giuliani (NYS Supreme Court, New
York County, 4/21/97)
UFT v. NYC Health & Hospitals
Corporation
Gould v. NYC Police Department (89 N.Y.
2d 267)
Blecher v. NYC Board of Education (New
York Law Journal, 10/25/79)

AFL:
My FOIL request for Principal Smiths and
AP Browns emails regarding myself has
finally been granted! Unfortunately there
are a lot of redactions.
What are the steps I need to take to write a
proper appeal?
What cases can I cite in my appeal?
(BONUS!)

Disclaimer: Prior results do not guarantee a similar

outcome.

STEP 6: YOUR APPEALS RESULT

Access granted (very rare) but it happens =

Wait (often longer than ever) for your

records!

Access denied =
Take the NYC DOE to court by filing an

Article 78 litigation. The link for forms and

instructions are on the packet.
Your Notice of Claim should just contain the
facts and allegations with astated Cause
ofAction, and the legal arguments should go
in a Memorandum of Law.

Special Notes:
OSI memos will only be accessible if they

are substantiated. Unsubstantiated memos

are not available for public viewing.

Observations: A teacher sent Courtenaye

Jackson-Chase an appeal asking her why an

APPR form had been redacted. Ms. JacksonChase implied that since the results of an
APPR form are never final, the unredacted
form will never be available.

Special Notes:
APPR forms and observation reports will be

either UNAVAILABLE in full, OR be heavily

redacted because of:

If you are currently litigating a U-rating/Ineffective rating or

dismissal on the basis of teaching quality and classroom
performance, you should have a friend submit a FOIL request for
your APPR and observation reports. It is likely the DOE will
respond with a statement similiar to what you see above.
Use the above response in your lawsuit as proof that there were no
statistics or facts in such records. Consult with your attorney!!!!!

Resources and other awesome stuff!

Lydia.howrilka@live.com for:
FOIL advice
Court decisions other than Blecher, Lewis, UFT, and Gould
Sample letters
Edufoil (edufoil.com): request@edufoil.com
FOI-L Registration: https://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=FOI-L
www.protectportelos.org/f-o-i-l
www.dos.ny.gov/coog

ANY FINAL QUESTIONS?

How did Lydia Do?:

Please complete the following survey and

submit it to Lydia.