Shannon Dooling v. Boston, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20181496)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary. of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

October 25, 2018 SPR18/1496

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 Shannon Dooling of WBUR appealing the nonresponse from the City of Boston’s Public Schools (School) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Originally, Ms. Dooling sent a request to the School on September 4, 2018 requesting “student school incident reports, by school, that have been forwarded or otherwise provided to the Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) during the past three years.” Ms. Dooling also requested records from the School concerning police arrangements and student record; policies, protocols, and training curriculum; and records seeking names of ELL students from the Office of English Language Learners (OELL). The School provided an acknowledgment response email on September 13, 2018 to Ms. Dooling. In an email on October 10, 2018, Ms. Dooling made an appeal to this office stating the School has not produced responsive records.

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 of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(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, § 10(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 of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(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, § 10(b)(ili).

It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in

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. SPR18/1496 Pg, 2 October 25, 2018

order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(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...”); 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. Dooling concerning School records stated above. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii), (b)(ii), (iii). 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, § 10(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, § 10(b) (iii). If the records are within the School’s possession and they intend to withhold the documents an exemption must be provided as stated above. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption).

Based on a communication to this office from the City of Boston’s Records Access Office, Attorney Shawn Williams, it is my understanding the School and Ms. Dooling have exchanged correspondence regarding this matter and the School intends on providing a response.

Accordingly, the School is ordered to review the requests made by Ms. Dooling 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.

Sincerely,

Polecca, Mumma

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

ce: Shannon Dooling Shawn Williams, Esq.