Christine Mailloux v. Athol-Royalston Regional School District (SPR 20181564)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords November 6, 2018 SPRlS/1564 Darcy Fernandes Superintendent of Schools Athol-Royalston Regional School District 1062 Pleasant Street Athol, MA 01331 Dear Superintendent Fernandes: I have received the petition of Christine Mailloux appealing the response of the Athol Royalston Regional School District (School District) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1 OA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Ms. Mailloux requested copies ofletters of resignation and/or retirement for three identified persons. Initially on October 23, 2018, the School District denied the request, stating, "[t]he letters are part of the employee's personal files so they cannot be released." Ms. Mailloux appealed the School District's denial of access to responsive records. The 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, § IOA(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, § 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, § lO(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). 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

Darcy Fernandes SPRlS/1564 Page2 November 6, 2018 The School District's October 26, 2018 response After this appeal was opened, the School District's Legal Counsel, Fernand J. Dupere, provided Ms. Mailloux with a supplemental response dated October 26, 2018. In this response Attorney Dupere states "[u]pon my review of the resignation letters themselves, it does appear that such letters should be disclosed under M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 because the contents of the letters are, for the most part, not of a highly sensitive nature." As a result, the School District provided responsive records with one sentence in one resignation letter redacted. With respect to the redacted information, Attorney Dupere references Exemption ( c) of the Public Records Law and indicates "[t]he redacted information was information that the employee had not intended to be disclosed due to its highly sensitive nature. However, the rest of the letter is being disclosed." It is my determination that in light of the School District's October 26th supplemental response that provided responsive records, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. If issues remain unresolved, Ms. Mailloux may appeal the substantive nature of this response within 90 days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ·~Mt<kua7t- Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Christine Mailloux Fernand J. Dupere, Esq.