Georgia Open Records Act (O.C.G.A. 50-18-70)
The Georgia Open Records Act is a state law requiring public records be open and available for inspection by any interested member of the public. Georgia's Open Records Act places almost all recorded forms of information maintained or received during College operations in the public record. Only a few exceptions exist, notably information protected by privacy laws or certain types of protected confidential data. Any citizen can make an open records request. Requests are handled by either the Compliance Officer or the Registrar.
How to respond to an Open Records Request
Any employee receiving a request for records held under his/her individual or departmental responsibility should immediately notify the Compliance Officer or the Registrar.
Requests for Business or Personnel matters should be directed to Office of Human Resources at humanresources@gordonstate.edu
Requests for Student Records should be directed to Kristi Hayes, Registrar, at kristih@gordonstate.edu
Requests can also be sent by mail: Gordon State College, 419 College Drive, Barnesville, Georgia, 30204
Each Open Records must be responded to within three business days. The law only requires the college to acknowledge receipt of the request, whether the materials are available, and the estimated time and cost to comply with the request. The Open Records Act Coordinators will work in cooperation with the college's department to fulfill the requests.
The Act does allow the college to obtain reimbursements for reasonable costs, but must first notify the requesting party prior to fulfilling the request. The Act allows the college to charge an administrative fee for copying in addition to the charge of .10 per page, based on the hourly wage of the lowest paid employee qualified to retrieve and copy the records, minus the first fifteen minutes. Gordon State College practice is to collect any administrative fee payments prior to releasing the information requested.
A request form is provided for your convenience: Open Records Request Form
Additional Information:
For additional information regarding the legal compliance visit: http://law.ga.gov/open-government.