Pina Maggio v. Chelmsford, Town of - School Committee (SPR 20182004)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 20, 2018 SPRlS/2004 Jay Lang, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools Town of Chelmsford - School Committee 230 North Road Chelmsford, MA O1 824 Dear Superintendent Lang: I have received the petition of Jennifer Salmon on behalf of Pina Maggio appealing the response of the Chelmsford Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on November 20, 2018, Ms. Maggio requested " ... the lobby video and all and any entrance/hallway video camera footage from the Parker Middle School between the dates and times of November 13, 2018 at 5:00 a.m. until November 14, 2018 at 8:00 p.m." The School provided a response on November 30, 2018, providing a fee estimate. The School provided another response on December 5, 2018, indicating that the requested video recording is no longer in the possession of the School. Unsatisfied with the School's responses, Ms. Salmon petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR18/2004, was opened as a result. 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, § lOA(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, § IO(b)(iv); 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). 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 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Superintendent Jay Lang SPR18/2004 Page 2 December 20, 2018 If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. The School's November 3Uh and December 5th responses In the School's November 30, 2018 response, the School indicated that it possesses 156 hours of video footage responsive to the request. The School estimated that it would take 196 hours to search for, compile, segregate, redact and reproduce responsive records. As such, the School estimated that the cost for producing responsive records is $4825 (193 hours at $25.00/hour) plus the actual cost of a 250 GB storage device in the amount of $200 = $5,025. The School asked Ms. Maggio to contact it if she wished to modify her request. In its December 5, 2018 response, the School indicated that after reaching out to its technology department staff to retrieve the requested video, the requested recording could no longer be located because, the" ... video surveillance was outside of the retention parameters of the (hardware) server." The School explained that" ... the video server has limited storage capacity and older video is overwritten by newer video when the space is full on the server. ... Depending on how often the various cameras are triggered to record video determines the retention duration on the current system hardware ...." As such, the School indicated that it is not in possession of the requested recording and that as of December 5th, the oldest surveillance footage in possession of the School is as ofNovember 28, 2018. Records management The School's December 5th response raises questions regarding its records management practices. The School is advised that a custodian of records has an affirmative duty to maintain, secure, and preserve governmental records throughout the records life cycle. As such, safeguards must be instituted by the School to ensure that all records are retained in accordance with both applicable law as well as the retention schedules promulgated by this office. G. L. c. 66, § 8; G. L. c. 66, § 13; G. L. c. 66, § 15. The School is advised that records management practices of municipalities are governed by the Municipal Records Retention Schedule. For guidance in records management and retention, the School may consult with this Office's Records Management Unit that is available to answer questions and assist cities, towns, and state agencies with issues regarding records management and retention. The Records Management Unit may be reached at (617) 727-2816. In a telephone conversation with the School on December 13, 2018, the School informed this office that it is in the process of trying to upgrade the current system with regards to how its video surveillance records are retained. The School must confirm whether the responsive record existed at the time of the request and was subsequently deleted. If this was the case, whereas 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, the School must implement procedures to prevent

Superintendent Jay Lang SPR18/2004 Page 3 December 20, 2018 the deletion of records that are the subject of a pending public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide a response to Ms. Salmon 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: Jennifer Salmon