Ronald Alexander v. Wellesley, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20171381)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords October 16, 2017 SPR17/1381 Judith Belliveau Assistant Superintendent Records Access Officer Town of Wellesley Public Schools 40 Kingsbury Street Wellesley, MA 02481 Dear Ms. Belliveau: I have received the petition of Ronald Alexander appealing the response of the Wellesley Public School Department (School or Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Alexander requested a redacted version of documents previously produced by the School. This request was the subject of a petition submitted by the Town. See SPR17/899 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (July 10, 2017). This matter was also the subject of appeals by Mr. Alexander. See SPR17/1088 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (August 18, 2017); SPR17/1141 Determination ofthe Supervisor of Records (September 5, 2017). I closed SPR17 /1141 by ordering the School to provide a response to Mr. Alexander made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations, and the order. The School provided a response dated September 13, 2017. Mr. Alexander objects to this response and SPR17/1381 was opened as a result. Current appeal On December 7, 2016, Mr. Alexander sought the opportunity to inspect all documents produced by the School Department in response to public records requests. The School Department provided access to all responsive documents with no redactions. According to the Town's June 30th petition to this office, "[a] subsequent review, however, revealed that some of the documents contained Personal Information protected under M.G.L. c.93H. Specifically, documents to which Mr. Alexander was provided access included protected Personal Information of three (3) Massachusetts residents." The Town explained that 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

Judith Belliveau SPR17/1381 Page 2 October 16, 2017 on January 10, 2017, Town Counsel requested that Mr. Alexander return all copies of documents that he had made in response to the December 7, 2016 request and that "Town Counsel offered to provide Mr. Alexander with a complete set of documents, with Personal Information redacted, at no cost to Mr. Alexander." On June 14, 2017, Town Counsel asserted "[i]fl send you redacted copies before you return the 'originals' to me, you can compare the two documents and I will be specifically directing you to the information that was not supposed to be disclosed to you." Later that same day, Mr. Alexander sent an email to Town Counsel stating "[p]lease hereby consider my request (below) for copies of the documents you are referring to as a public records request." Mr. Alexander continues by stating "[s]ince you have already offered to provide these documents free of charge, I do not expect there to be any fee associated with the fulfillment ofthis request." As described above, Mr. Alexander is seeking a redacted version of documents the School previously produced to him. Upon further review, whereas Mr. Alexander possesses responsive records in an unredacted form, there is no need to opine on the public status of a redacted version ofthose same records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A(a) (the Supervisor ofRecords makes determinations regarding whether a violation of G. L. c. 66, § 10 has occurred); G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d ) (furnishing a segregable portion of a public record shall not be deemed to be creation of a new record). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander