OPRA-003: Instructional schedules, class coverage, and movies
Status: Filed · Filed: October 14, 2026 · Response due: October 23, 2026
Why this request
I have heard from my own children and from other parents about movies shown during the school day and about classes covered without a substitute this fall. Those are reports, not records, and this ledger does not publish them. The records that would show how instructional time is being used when staff are short are the school schedules, the district’s own policy on showing films, the teacher-absence data the substitute system already holds, and whatever guidance staff were given. This request asks for those.
The request
The text below is the request as prepared for filing. The filed copy carries the requester’s contact details and date in place of this heading.
To: Custodian of Records, West Orange Board of Education, 179 Eagle Rock Avenue, West Orange, NJ 07052
From: Rasmus Praestholm (contact details are on the filed copy)
This is a request for government records under the Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq., and the common law right of access. It is not made for a commercial purpose, and the records are not sought in connection with a legal proceeding. Electronic copies by email are requested; where a record exists as a spreadsheet or a system export, please send it in that form.
Period for items 3 and 4: September 1, 2026 through the date of this request.
Records requested:
- For each elementary and middle school, the master schedule or daily bell schedule in effect for 2026-27, showing the instructional periods or blocks for each grade with their start and end times.
- The Board policy and any accompanying regulation that governs the showing of films, movies, or video to students during the school day.
- A report or export from the absence-management system used for teachers, whether the District operates it or the substitute staffing vendor (Sunbelt Staffing, LLC, under the agreement approved August 24, 2026, Finance/Business Office item 20) operates it on the District’s behalf, showing for each school day in the period, by school building, the number of teacher absences and the number left without a substitute. If no report with exactly those fields exists, please send the closest standard report that system produces.
- Written guidance, directives, or memoranda sent to instructional staff by the Superintendent, an Assistant Superintendent, or a building Principal during the period, on either of two subjects: (a) showing films or movies to students during the school day, or (b) how a class is to be covered when its teacher is absent and no substitute is available.
Notes for the custodian:
- I am asking for existing records and stored data, not for research or new analysis. Item 3 asks for fields already held in a database; see Paff v. Galloway Township, 229 N.J. 340 (2017).
- Item 4 identifies the senders by job title, the two subjects, and the time period, as N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g) provides for correspondence.
- I am not seeking student names or any personally identifiable student information, and I do not need the names of individual teachers. Please redact those and note the basis for each redaction.
- If any item is denied in whole or in part, please state the specific legal basis for each denial, as N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g) requires.
- If you expect to assess a special service charge, please send an itemized estimate before doing the work.
Log
- October 1, 2026. Drafted.
- October 13, 2026. Text finalized for filing.
- October 14, 2026. Handed to the custodian of records at the Business Office, 179 Eagle Rock Avenue, with the district’s OPRA request form; the receipt copy was date-stamped the same day (see Documents). The same text was emailed to the custodian, who confirmed receipt. The seven-business-day response period runs to October 23, 2026.