PA Right-to-Know Law Information
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ACT 3 of 2008, known as the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know (RtK) Law, significantly changed the process by which members of the public could request and obtain public records in the Commonwealth. As a governmental institute, Southern Lehigh SD is obligated to comply with the law's requirements and to facilitate records requests, the District has adopted the following policies:
District Policy #801: Public Records Policy
- Administrative Regulation #1: Exempted Records
- Administrative Regulation #2: Disclosure/Production of Certain Records
- Administrative Regulation #3: Fees for Public Records Requests
Please review the policy and its associated regulations carefully to ensure that you are aware of what is an acceptable record(s) request and how the request(s) will be processed.
Please note the following:
Our business hours for the District are Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. All requests received after our business hours or on days when District offices are closed or not in operation will be acknowledged as received the following business day or next day on which District offices are re-opened for business. Under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law, we have five (5) business days to respond to your request. This response may include fulfilling your request, denying your request, or invoking a 30-calendar day extension to review your request further. Please note that the five-day timeframe does not include the date that we have received your request. Please see our District calendar for all open business dates.
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Filing a Request
The Office of the Superintendent processes all open records request for the district. To initiate an Open Records Request, you must complete the Standard Right-to-Know Law Request Form, which you can download and complete as a fillable Adobe Acrobat File (*.pdf) by clicking HERE. Once completed, please submit it either via electronic or paper mail to the following:
Dr. Karen Trinkle
Open Records Officer
Southern Lehigh School District
5775 Main Street | Center Valley PA 18034
Office: (610) 282-3121 EXT. 5100
Fax: (610) 922-1603
Email: openrecordsofficer@slsd.org
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Filing an Appeal
The RtK Law also permits individuals who have submitted the aforementioned form to file an appeal with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records if the request has been denied or denied. Please note that (a) the appeal must be filed within 15 business days of the denial or deemed denial date and (b) the appeal must include the request, agency denial if one exists, and address agency grounds that the request was denied. An appeals officer will determine if the record(s) is subject to public access. To initiate an appeal, you must first complete the Online Appeals Form, which you access by clicking HERE. Once completed, please submit it either via electronic or paper copy to the following:
Office of Open Records
333 Market Street | 16th Floor
Harrisburg, PA | 17101
Office: (717) 346-9903
Fax: (717) 425-5343
Email: openrecords@pa.gov
