LCW is aware that many community college districts and other public agencies across the state have recently received requests under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) for unredacted copies of agreements between the educational entity and current or former employees assigned to the entity’s police department regarding threatened discipline or discipline. Specifically, the requests demand access to settlement agreements, last chance agreements, separation agreements, clean record agreements, resignation agreements, and related agreements between the district and such employees.
The CPRA contains specific legal requirements, including timelines to respond among others, with respect to the obligations to respond to such requests. Furthermore, the CPRA requires that an entity perform a reasonable search for potentially responsive records. Depending on the content of responsive documents, the entity may find that all or some of its content are exempt from disclosure. Ultimately, the law requires the entity to provide responsive, non-exempt documents, if any exist.
Accordingly, determining whether an entity must provide documents in response to a CPRA request is an individualized analysis that depends on the specific request and the contents of the responsive document. If your school, college, or district needs assistance with responding to this or other CPRA requests, please contact one of our five offices statewide.