Cindy Dizio v. Machester Essex Middle School (SPR 20171695)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 21, 2017 SPR17/1695 Pam Beaudoin Superintendent 36 Lincoln Street Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA 01944 Dear Ms. Beaudoin: I have received the petition of Cindy Dizio appealing the response of the Manchester Essex Regional School District (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Dizio requested records relating to an identified student. Ms. Dizio was not satisfied with the fees charged for the provision of records. Fee estimates A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d ). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § IO(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § IO(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § IO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 CMR 32.06(4). 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

Ms. Pam Beaudoin SPRl 7/1695 Page2 December 21, 2017 Current Appeal Ms. Dizio sent an email to our office on December 11, 2017 with concerns about being charged for records regarding her daughter who attended the School. In the email, Ms. Dizio stated she had "made a request and was not charged anything however the district did not give [her] a complete set of the records that [she] had requested." It is my understanding a member of the Public Records Division staff has been in contact with the School. In an email, on December 20, 2017 the School stated they have "identified the issue" concerning the fees charged to Ms. Dizio. The School must provide a revised fee estimate in accordance with the Public Records Law and its Regulation as mentioned above. See G. L. c. 66, § 10( d)(i). Order Accordingly, the School is hereby ordered to provide Ms. Dizio with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (10) business days. 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Cindy Dizio