Joshua Eaton v. Boston, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20160957)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords November 1, 2016 SPR16/957 Alissa Ocasio, Esq. Office of the Legal Advisor Boston Public Schools 2300 Washington Street Boston, MA 02119 Dear Attorney Ocasio: I have received the petition of Joshua Eaton appealing the nonresponse of the City of Boston-Public Schools (BPS) to requests for public records made on July 19, 2016 and August 15, 2016. G. L. c. 66 § lO(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Mr. Eaton sought copies ofrecords containing demographic and other statistical information. Having only received an acknowledgment of these requests, Mr. Eaton petitioned this office. To the best of my knowledge, BPS has not yet provided written responses to these requests. 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, § lO(b); 950 C.M.R. 32.05. The ten-day provision is a maximum, rather than a minimum, period for complying with a public records request. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. BPS is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. BPS must provide written responses to Mr. Eaton's requests without delay. 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. Mr. Eaton may appeal the substantive nature of the School's responses within ninety (90) days. See 950 C. .R. 32.08(2). a Supervisor of Records cc: Joshua Eaton One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us