Gerard F. Mackin, Jr. v. Weymouth, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20181453)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 16, 20 18 SPRl811453 Jennifer Curtis- Whipple, Ed.D. Superintendent Town of Weymouth Public Schools 11 1 Middle Street Weymouth, MA 02 18 9 Dear Dr. Curtis-Whipple: I have received the petition of Gerard F. Mackin, Jr. appealing the response of the Town of Weymouth 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. Mackin requested a copy of: 1. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to the sale, gifts, rebates, couponing or other distribution by BSN Sports to the Weymouth School Department, and any employee including but not limited to Principal Alan J. Strauss during the fiscal years 201 8 and 201 9. Including but not limited to sales or distributions to any Booster group of parents andlor supporters; 2. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to invoices submitted by BSN Sports to the [School], Alan J. Strauss or any Booster organization as referred to above during the fiscal years 20 18 and 20 19; 3. Any check or other financial document constituting, referring or relating to payment to BSN Sports for any invoice referred to in request 2 above; 4. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to approval or authorization by the Weymouth School Committee or any of its members or employees for payment to BSN or any other person or entity of the invoices referred to in request 2 above; 5. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to any or all communications, paper, electronic or any other mode between or among the Weymouth School Committee, any of its members, Alan J. Strauss, Superintendent Curtis-Whipple, any employee of the Weymouth School Department and BSN Sports relating or referring to the documents or actions referred to in requests 1,2, 3 or 4 above; 6. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to the disposition by gift or otherwise, of any items of clothing, sports 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

Dr. Jennifer E. Curtis-Whipple Page 2 October 16,2018 equipment or paraphernalia received from BSN Sports during the fiscal years 20 18 and 2019; 7. Any vote talcen, or other document made, by the WSC, authorizing the disposal of any item referred to in any of the preceding six requests from BSN which is no longer owned by the Weymouth School Department; 8. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to any communication between the Weymouth School Department, WSC, or any of its members, Alan J. Strauss, or any other employee of the Weymouth School Department with any Booster organization or the members thereof requesting or discussing money to pay for any items referred to in request 1 through 7 above; 9. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to communications with any employee of the Weymouth School Department regarding payment by such employee personally for any item of clothing, equipment or paraphernalia provided by BSN to the Weymouth School Department, Principal Strauss or any other employee of the Weymouth School Department; 10. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to communications from BSN asking for payment for any or all items referred to in requests 1-9 above, including any response made on behalf of the Weymouth School Committee, Alan J. Strauss or any other employee of the Weymouth School Department Booster organization; 11 . Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to payment made by any coach or employee of the Weymouth School Department for any item sold or in any way provided by BSN to the Weymouth School Department, the WSC, or any of its members, Alan J. Strauss or any other Weymouth School Department employee; 12. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to the disposition by the Weymouth SC, Weymouth School Department, Alan J. Strauss or any of its other employees of any items provided by BSN for fiscal years 201 8 and 2019; including a statement of any criteria under which any items of clothing, equipment or paraphernalia acquired from BSN Sports were disposed of in fiscal years 201 8 and 20 19; 13. Any and all documents whether paper or electronic in form constituting, referring or relating to notices to students of the availability of any clothing, equipment or paraphernalia available to students as part of any rebate, gift, allowance or other refund of any name or description by BSN for items purchased from BSN during fiscal years 201 8 and 20 19; 14. The funding sources for all purchases by the Weymouth School Department or any of its employees for any items provided by BSN Sports in fiscal years 201 8 and 201 9; 15. Copies of all checks provided by Weymouth High School Booster groups for the payment of any BSN invoices in fiscal years 201 8 and 20 19; 16. A list of all free shoes provided by BSN to Weymouth High School and distributed by Principal Alan J. Strauss, along with the criteria used to determine the distribution of these items in fiscal years 20 18 and 201 9; and 17. A list of all Weymouth High School uniforms, or other gifts, distributed by Principal Strauss as senior gifts during the fiscal 201 8 school year.

Dr. Jennifer E. Curtis-Whipple Page 2 October 16,201 8 On September 19,2018, the School provided Mr. Mackin with a response stating, "[tlhe documents you requested are located within multiple departments and the School District's email archive system. Collecting the responsive documents will require time to search for and then segregate the documents." The School gave Mr. Mackin an estimate for $3,887.50. As a result, Mr. Mackin petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) and this appeal was opened. The School's.f ee estimate The School's September 19 the stimate indicates that each responsive document would require review to ensure it does not contain information protected by state or federal privacy laws. Further, the School explains it has "estimated that it may take up to 14 business days to gather the information and an additional 7 business days to review the documents for a total of 21 business days or 157.5 hours. If however it takes less time the documents will be forwarded to [Mr. Mackin] sooner." The total cost of the School's estimate is $3,887.50. Fees for municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d). The School did not detail how much time is allocated to each of the tasks, only that the School estimates it will take 157.5 hours based on 21 business days of work on the request. A fee estimate must detail the amount of time necessary for each task, such as search, segregation or redaction. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(d)(i). It is unclear whether the School assessed any fees for copies of records. 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). The School has confirmed that it is waiving the first two (2) hours of employee time from the 157.5 hours it assessed, as required by G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iii). 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 C.M.R. 32.06(4). It is not apparent from the estimate what state and/or federal laws apply to require segregation and/or redaction of the requested records. The School has assessed $25.00 per hour to search, compile, segregate and/or redact, and copy the responsive records; however, the School did not explain whether the $25.00 per hour

Dr. Jennifer E. Curtis-Whipple Page 2 October 16,2018 rate is the lowest paid hourly rate of the employee capable of each of the taslts necessary. & 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(i). Waiver of fees In his petition to the Supervisor, Mr. Mackin seelts a complete waiver of fees to provide him with the responsive records. Mr. Mackin is advised; however, this office lacks the authority to compel a records custodian to waive fees for providing public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(1). Order Accordingly, the Town must provide Mr. Mackin with a supplemental response and revised estimate, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 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: Gerard F. Maclin, Jr.