Dear Fellow Officials:
If you feel that the distribution of game assignments is unfair, disparate, disproportionate in your board, and the “powers that be” will not share the “Master Schedule” with the membership, in all likelihood you can make a request for all the games assigned, sorted by each official under the Freedom of Information Law or FOIL.
FOIL is a (I think) a Federal Statute but each state may have its version thereof. Certainly in New York, I have had success in simply writing to the assigners and worded a request for the desired the data.
In NY there is a Committee on Open Government which offers Advisory Opinions on the nuances and cases that have expanded and better explained the whats, wheres, whens, hows and whys of Freedom of Information Law.
In a nutshell, FOIL says that public, municipal or government agencies are subjected to the provisions of FOIL. As such, in some areas, there is a central assigner whose job it is to dole out games for the athletic leagues member schools it serves.
The simplified rationale for FOIL goes like this: Public agencies are virtually completely supported by public funds gathered through various taxes. If you are a citizen, you pay taxes in one form or another and you are entitled to the information available with some limitations on data that is of a private or personal nature: home address, phone number, date of birth, social security number etc.
Below are some helpful NYS Committee on Open Government links. Chances are good that even if you are not in NY, your state probably has similar laws guaranteeing such rights for every citizen.
What does this mean for officials, officiating and equity in assignments: Again, it means you can make a FOIL request for the master schedule of your boardÂ’s assignments with whoever the assigner is, even if it a private individual, such as a member of the board itself whether that individual is paid or a volunteer.
Knowledge is power; and, the legal right to know what games are assigned to what individuals by an assigner, gives every official access to the truth about assigning, and thereby goes a step further in ensuring equity for all.
John Visentin
[email protected]
Here are those links to NYS Committee on Open Government (COOG) Freedom of Information Law (FOIL):
Link to NYS FOIL Statute (Law):
1.
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/foil2.htm
Link to Advisory Opinions home page — these are non-judicial opinions written by the Executive Director of NYS’s COOG on various issues and questions raised by FOIL requests made by individuals over time:
2.
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/findex.html
Link to Advisory Opinion Supporting Requests made for information created by private agencies or individuals, even though unpaid, that supports or is work made performed for public entities such as the assigning of officials to athletic contests for public schools.:
3. AO#8300:Â*http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/ftext/f8300.htm
Finally, it is important to point out that Freedom of Information Law allows whoever is fulfilling the FOIL request to charge $.025 (25 cents) per page of copied materials supplied to a requester. However, in the computer age, most everything data-wise is created and stored electronically via some personal computing applications program such as Microsoft Word or Excel files, which can be effortless manipulated according to whatever criteria or specified parameter one wishes to see (e.g. “all varsity basketball assignments sorted by officials last name...” etc.). This database “cut” or manipulation can then be stored on a CD ROM or attached to an e-mail and sent directly to the requester with much less effort and expense for both parties requester and requestee — this Advisory Opinion #13777) supports this argument:
4. AO#13777:
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/coog/ftext/f13777.htm
Additionally, you may wish to consider reviewing the following Advisory Opinions: 8888, 11318, 12305, 12559, 12741 (these are found in the index of Advisory Opinion under the letter “F,” specifically under the keyword category of, “Format, Conversion of”). All of which support the right to received the requested data electronically via e-mail.
Good luck to all who seek the truth and justice.