Information Request

In our Journlism 220 class, we were asked to request public records in order to better understand the process journalists go through to obtain information. I decided to request the budget for the Marion Center Area School District because I had heard there was some controversy about how much had been spent on the new lights for the football field.

I started by visiting the school's website to try to determine who I should address my letter to. After reviewing all of the current administration, I decided that the best person to contact would be the business manager, Mr. Richard Martini. I plugged my information into the letter template that Dr. McCoy provided for the assignment, printed the letter and mailed it off to the school.

After two weeks of not receiving any response, I decided to contact the school to make sure my letter had been received. After being put on hold by the secretary for about ten minutes, I was transferred to Mr. Martini's voicemail. I left a message inquiring about my letter, leaving my name, phone number and email address for him to respond to, and I have yet to receive any kind of response.

I have a feeling that when/if I do eventually get a response, it will be to say that either the information isn't currently available, or some excuse about how it will take a lot of time to provide me with the information.

This is really the response I expected. With all of the recent questions about the football field, I did not expect a straight answer or response to my request.