Laura Pomerance v. Framingham State University (SPR 20190555)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 22, 2019 SPR19/0555 Ann S. McDonald, Esq. Chief of Staff, General Counsel and Secretary to the Board of Trustees Framingham State University 100 State Street Map PO Box 9101 Framingham, MA 01701-9101 Dear Attorney McDonald: I have received your petition on behalf of Framingham State University (University) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). As required by law, the University furnished a copy of this petition to the . requestor. Id. Specifically, Laura Pomerance of the National Council on Teacher Quality on March 11, 2019 requested two categories ofrecords pertaining to syllabi for named courses "as they were distributed to each student" as well as various documents "in connection with participants in the Bachelor ofS cience in Education with Elementary Education Certification, Undergraduate Secondary Program, Master ofE ducation: Secondary Education Concentration." Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examinerecords; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; 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

Ann S. McDonald, Esq. SPR19/0555 Page2 March 22, 2019 (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In the University's petition dated March 15, 2019, the University requests "an extension from you to satisfy the public records request that was received in my office this week." The University explains "[g]iven the complexity ofrecords requested and the timing of the request (University faculty will be off-campus during spring break March 18 - 24), it will be challenging the University to satisfy the 10 business day response requirement." Subsequent to a staff member of the Public Records Division contacting the University, Attorney McDonald clarified in an. email sent to this office March 21, 2019, that a "10 business day extension would be sufficient." Attorney McDonald also indicated " [ o Jur faculty are away all of this week and next week will begin interviews for our new provost. We will be relying on them to support us in providing us with their syllabi, etc ... " I find that in light of the capacity and normal business hours of the University, and the need to search for and collect the requested records, the University has established good cause to permit an extension of time of 10 business days. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c)(i)-(iv).