Maya Shaffer v. Boston, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20181190)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 22, 2018 SPRlS/1190 Carolyn Weisman, Esq. Assistant Corporation Counsel Boston Public Schools- Office of the Legal Advisor 2300 Washington St. Boston MA 02119 Dear Attorney Weisman: I have received the petition from Maya Shaffer appealing the response from the Boston Public Schools (School) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Originally, Ms. Shaffer sent a request to the School on June 23, 2018 requesting records pertaining to "all communications with any branch of law enforcement (including but not limited to ICE, Boston Police, & the Boston Regional Intelligence Center) related to immigration." The School provided an acknowledgment response email on July 18, 2018 to Ms. Shaffer asking for more specific clarification of her request. Ms. Shaffer provided a more specific request to the School on July 19, 2018. In an email on August 9, 2018, Ms. Shaffer made an appeal to this office stating the School has failed to respond to her public records request. Appeal Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days ofreceipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. 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 ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(a)(ii), (b )(ii). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iii). 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, § lO(b)(iv) (written response must "identify 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

Carolyn Weisman, Esq. SPR18/1190 Pg.2 August 22, 2018 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 ... "); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). It is unclear if the School possesses the records requested by Ms. Shaffer concerning communications between the School and any branch of law enforcement. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a )(ii) (b )(ii)(iii). Accordingly, the School is ordered to review the requests made by Ms. Shaffer and provide any requested records in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order 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. Failure to do so may result in referral of this matter to the Office of the Attorney General (AGO). See G. L. c. 66, § lOA(b). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Maya Shaffer