Brian Keaney v. Milton, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20160035)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords February 5, 2016 SPR16/035 Mr. Alex Campea Athletics Director Milton High School 25 Gile Rd Milton, MA 02186 Dear Mr. Campea: I have received the petition of Brian Keaney appealing the nomesponse of the Town of Milton-Public Schools (School) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Keaney requested two (2) categories of records related to data that reflect the number of students emolled at the high school as well as the number of students that participated in a fall sports programs. Having received no response, Mr. Keaney petitioned this office. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b); 950 C.M.R. 32.05. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. The School is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. The ten-day provision is a maximum, rather than a minimum, time frame for complying with a public records request. I find the School has failed to respond to a request for public records, and has failed to rebut any presumption that any responsive records are public records. The School was provided not only Mr. Keaney's request, but also an acknowledgment from this office dated January 20, 2016 providing an appeal number and notice that a public records appeal had been opened by this office. Further, a member of my staff made several attempts to contact you regarding this appeal and to date there has been no contact from you to resolve this issue. The School is hereby ordered, within ten (10) days, to review the requests made by Mr. Keaney and provide a written response to Mr. Keaney, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Mr. Alex Campea SPR16/035 Page 2 February 5, 2016 If the School maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Mr. Keaney a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. To assist the School in responding to requests for public records I have enclosed a copy of our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is also available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys and other members of my staff are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, members of my staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on e Public Records Law upon request. Please contact my office directly at the telephone nurn er provided in this determination for further information. Enclosure cc: Mr. Brian Keaney