Corey Spaulding v. Wellesley, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20181101)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 3,2018 SPRl8/1101 Cynthia D. Mahr, SF0 Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Wellesley Public Schools 40 Kingsbury Street Wellesley, MA 0248 1 Dear Ms. Mahr: I have received the petition of Corey Spaulding appealing the response of the Wellesley 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, on July 16,201 8 Ms. Spaulding requested "an appointment to inspect financial records including grants, donations, gifts, cancelled checks and accounts for the past 5 years." The School responded on July 23,2018 by suggesting that Ms. Spaulding narrow her -request-and-providecla~itya bo~lt~~hat~~hemean&by-~~finan~iaLrecorB~-Ms-Spa~~dillgapp~aled the School's response on July 23,201 8. Please note, the issues in this appeal are similar to those raised in a previous determination. See SPR1811090 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (August 1,2018). Tlze Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, 3 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 51 1 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. . One Ashburton Place, Room 1719 , Boston, Massachusetts 02 108 (6 17) 727-2832. Fax: (61 7) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre * pre@sec.state.ma.us

Cynthia D. Mahr, SF0 Page 2 August 3,201 8 Current appeal Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, the School provided a response dated July 30, 201 8 that explains "you are welcome to make an appointment to review our budget document. We have a hard copy of the document in the office. An electronic copy is available on our web site at: https://wellesle~ps.org/district-info~etYl"o u also note "[iln terms of your public records request to 'see the accounts in which grants and donations were deposited for the past two years,' Judy Belliveau provided you the requested information via e-mail on March 16 th and March 28th. I believe your request has been satisfied." Ms. Spaulding responded by indicating "I am interested in the town treasurer's account of the school department. Do I need to make a public records request of the town treasurer or is this consider a public records request of the school committee?" This office encourages the School and Ms. Spaulding to communicate further to enable the School to provide requested public records. G. L. c 66, 5 10(a)(i) (the request must reasonably describe the public record sought). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, 3 lO(a)(ii). The School must explain whether it possesses any other responsive records and use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any additional responsive records. G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). If unresolved issues remain, Ms. Spaulding may appeal the substantive nature of the School's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Corey Spaulding