Steps to Submit a Successful CORA Search-PLEASE READ IN IT'S ENTIRETY (Public Other: Assessments, Research & Reporting)

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WHAT IS CORA:

The Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) are laws that allow public access to many government records including school district records. Records that cannot be accessed include:

Student Records: The confidentiality rules and release procedures of academic records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and are not subject to disclosure under CORA. To obtain student records, refer to the district’s Student Records & Transcripts webpage.
Employee Personnel Files: CORA prohibits public school districts from releasing parts of employee personnel files including, but not limited to: home addresses, telephone numbers, financial information, certain employee evaluation reports, letters of reference, and other information maintained because of the employer-employee relationship.

Before Submitting a Request, Review this Information:

Financial records: If you are looking for financial records, they may be contained on the Financial Transparency page. Consider searching these pages before submitting your request.
District and Board policies: If you are looking for policies, consider using the searchable database on BoardDocs.
Board of Education meeting materials: if you are looking for Board of Education meeting materials, consider using the searchable database on BoardDocs.
Inspection of records: If the requester wishes to inspect the records responsive to the request in advance of receiving copies, the inspection will be by appointment during normal business hours. A district representative will supervise the requester during the inspection period.

STEPS FOR SUCCESS:

Email Searches

CORA requests for emails are most effective when they include three items of information from the requester:

Email addresses:
- Your search will render the best results if you narrow the email addresses to five or fewer.
- Someone’s name, title, or other identifier is generally not sufficient if that person is not a current Jeffco employee. We cannot search whole groups of people or departments.
- We cannot search external email addresses.
A date range:
- We recommend a date range of under a year.
- Avoid overly broad ranges. Requesting "all emails from the last five years" for multiple individuals will likely incur significant costs. Narrowing the date range is crucial.
Keywords:
- Conserve the keywords to five or fewer.
- Avoid commonplace words. Keywords need to be specific. First names or common last names are too broad as search parameters. Specific keywords are unique to the search you submit.

For us to conduct an email search, you are strongly encouraged to include the email search parameters.

Building Videos

CORA requests for building security videos require four items of information from the requester:

Exact Date and Time: This is paramount for video requests.
- Specific Date(s): For example, "May 15, 2025" or "between May 15, 2025, at 8:00 AM and May 15, 2025, at 10:00 AM."
- Specific Time Frame(s): The narrower the window, the easier it is for us to find. Avoid broad requests like "all video from last month."
Location within the Building/Property:
- Specific Building Name: "Mayberry High School" or "Ed Center Building."
- Specific Area/Camera Location:
  - "Specific camera number”
  - "Main entrance camera"
  - "Cafeteria, near the serving line"
Exterior vs. Interior:
- Clarify if you are looking for outdoor or indoor footage.
Nature of the Event/Incident (if applicable):
- Describing the event can help pinpoint the relevant footage, especially if the exact time or camera location isn't perfectly clear.

Bus Videos

CORA requests for bus videos require four items of information from the requester:

Date and Time of Incident/Event:
- Specific Date: "On May 20, 2025"
- Specific Time Frame: This is critical. Be as precise as possible. "Between 7:15 AM and 7:30 AM.” Avoid broad requests like "all video from last Tuesday."
Bus Identification:
- Bus Number: This information will be necessary to locate the video.
Location of Incident/Event:
- On the Bus: Specify the general area "front of the bus," "middle of the bus near row 5," "rear of the bus."
Nature of the Event/Incident:
- Describing the event helps us locate the relevant segment of video much faster and understand what to look for.

RELATED DISTRICT POLICIES

DIRECTIONS:

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