Anthony J. Bilotta v. Leominster, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20160396)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords June 23, 2016 SPR16/396 Mr. James R. Jolicoeur Superintendent of Schools City of Leominster - Public Schools 24 Church Street Leominster, MA 01453 Dear Mr. Jolicoeur: I have received the petition of Anthony J. Bilotta appealing the non-response of the Town of Leominster-Public Schools (School District) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Bilotta requested to inspect and review ten (10) categories of records related to softball raffles and other student activities. Having received no response, Mr. Bilotta 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. All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. To assist in requesting and responding to requests for public records please refer to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys on 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 the Public Records Law upon request. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this determination for further information. Order As of the date of this determination no written response has been provided to Mr. Bilotta by the School District. This office opened this administrative appeal on June 15, 2015 and provided an acknowledgment letter to you by mail. Further, a call was placed to your office on June 22, 2016 regarding this appeal. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre

Mr. James R. Jolicoeur SPR16/396 Page2 June 23, 2016 I find the School District has failed to respond to a request for public records, and has failed to rebut any presumption that the requested records are public records. Accordingly, the School District is hereby ordered to review the requests made by Mr. Bilotta and provide a written response to Mr. Bilotta, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order. 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. cc: Mr. Anthony J. Bilotta