Paul Sullivan v. Framingham, City of - Public Schools Department (SPR 20180159)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 20,20 18 SPR181159 Nancy Piaseclti Executive Director of the Office of the Superintendent Framingham Public Schools 73 Mt. Wayte Ave., Suite 5 Framingham, MA 0 1702 Dear Ms. Piasecki: I have received the petition of Paul Sullivan appealing the response of the Framingham Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Sullivan sent an email on February 2,2018 based on the School's January 8,2018 fee estimate indicating "[tlhe response [he] received, was that the data would take 8 hours of labor etc (see attached). For the reason above and the fact this infohation is required to report to the federal government yearly. Also, the information is purely numbers of athletes; no personal information etc redactions are required." 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 lO(d). The fees must Id. 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 lO(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, 5 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 1O (d)(iv). One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 021 08 (617) 727-2832. Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre pre@sec.state.ma.us

Ms. Nancy Piasecki Page 2 February 20,201 8 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 petitionunder G. L. c. 66, tj lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, 9 lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Current Appeal The School's January gth fee estimate total cost was $150.50. The School states "[pler 950 CMR 32.07 (2)(m), since maximum rate allowable under the Public Records Regulations ($25.00 per hour) exceeds the lowest hourly rate of a person capable of compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing the requested records, you will be charged at the maximum allowable rate of $25.00 per hour." The School has not indicated the employee who will be segregating the records, or identified which exemptions allow for the redactions of records, or specified how the exemptions apply to the withheld records. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (d)(iv) (written response must "identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based.. ."). The School also states in the fee estimate "[tlhe District estimates your request will take approximately eight (8) hours, less 2 hours not assessed per 950 CMR 32.07 (2)(m), for a net total of six (6) hours." The School is not clear the reasons why it will take eight hours to retrieve the records and what records will be retrieved in the search process. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv). Order Accordingly, the School is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Sullivan 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, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Paul Sullivan