Cindy Dizio v. Manchester Essex Regional School District (SPR 20180055)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Munay Supervisor of Records January 30,201 8 SPR18/055 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 5 see Essex Regional School District (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, 10A; 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Dizio indicated her dissatisfaction with the fees assessed 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, 5 10(d). The fees must u. reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. 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, 5 10(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two 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, § lO(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, a. redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. 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, 5 lO(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, 5 lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, 5 10(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 Page 2 January 30,2018 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 a letter dated January 10, 2018, the School affirmed it was "MERSD's practice to provide parents and eligible student with their student records free of charge for their first request, and then charge reproduction costs for subsequent requests. Our records indicate that you requested and were provided a copy of the student record in 2015. Accordingly, you were charged reproduction costs at ten cents per page." The School states in the January 10" letter "[tlhe district estimates that it spent nine hours reviewing the emails identified in the district's search for records. Accordingly, to review the records identified and segregate the public records from the student record, the district would charge an estimated $225.00 for segregation plus photocopying costs at five cents per page." It is unclear the reason for the search requiring nine hours. The School does not indicate the employee who is segregating and photocopying the records or clearly explain the estimate as required by the Public Records Law. The School must provide a more detailed fee estimate in accordance with the Public Records Law and its Regulations. See G. L. c. 66, 5 10(d)(i). Order Accordingly, the School is hereby ordered to provide Ms. Dizio with a revised fee estimate in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten 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, I.' Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Cindy Dizio