Kevin Wood v. Georgetown, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20190756)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 18, 2019 SPR19/0756 Greg Pagninio, Esq. Legal Counsel Georgetown Public Schools 8 Pine Plain Road Georgetown, MA 01833 · Dear Attorney Pagninio: I have received your petition on behalf of the Georgetown Public Schools (School) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Specifically, on December 14, 2018, Mr. Wood requested the following records: 1. Emails and email attachments to or from the Georgetown School Committee ... with any Georgetown School Department employee between the dates of October 14, 2018 and December 17, 2018 whether or not such communications passed through the Georgetown School Department email system. 2. Any correspondencewith or about Kieve Wavus [Camp Kieve] between the dates of January 2016 and December 17, 2018. 3. Any correspondence with or about Trad Leadership Group, LLC, Core Trainings, Dana Hult, Deb Hult between the dates of January 2016 and December 17, 2018. 4. School Committee policy for establishing qualifications and scope of work for outside entities not paid by the Georgetown School Department but providing services to the school department and/or students. 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: 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

Greg Pagninio, Esq. SPR19/0756 Page 2 April 18, 2019 (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (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; (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 requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In the petition, the School "in receipt of an April 3, 2019 letter from your office regarding a · further response to a complaint filed by Kevin Wood" requests "an extension for the District to respond to this letter up to and including April 26, 2019." The School explains "the District's Superintendent, Carol Jacobs, is on a trip chaperoning students to Florida and will not return until after this upcoming weekend. Next week is April vacation week for the school and, as a result, the District will be minimally staffed. Given the circumstances, the District is requesting this extension in order to allow for the organization and staffing necessary to be in place to respond to the letter." I find that in light of the volume and scope of the requests, and the capacity of the School to produce records, the School has established good cause to permit an extension of time to respond to appeal SPR19/0606 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (April 3, 2019).

Greg Pagninio, Esq. SPR19/0756 Page 3 April 18, 2019 Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, the School is granted an extension of time to provide a response to Kevin Wood. The response must be provided by April 26, 2019, in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and my previous determination. See 19/0606. Mr. Wood may appeal the substantive nature of the School's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Wood may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66 § lOA(c). Sincerely, ~a~ Supervisor of Records cc: Kevin Wood