Stephen Cass v. Wayland, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20190944)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 24, 2019 SPR19/944 Peter L. Mello, Esq. Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Crown Colony Plaza 300 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 410 Quincy, MA 02169 Dear Attorney Mello: I have received the petition of Stephen F. Cass appealing the response of the Town of Wayland Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Cass requested: 1. All emails sent by Scott Parseghian [email address]from August 1, 2013-0ctober 31, 2015; 2. All emails sent by David Gavron [email address]from March 4, 2014-May 31, 2015; 3. All emails between Stephen Cass [email address], Keith Clevinger [email address], Mary Barber [email address] and Susan Ginsberg [email address] from July 1, 2013- December 31, 2013 and from July 1, 2014-August 31, 2014; 4. All emails between Scott Parseghian [ email address] and John Ritchie [e mail address] from January 1, 2014-June 30, 2014; and 5. All emails between Allyson Mizoguchi [email address] and Brad Crozier [email address] from April 1, 2015-May 31, 2015. In a May 10, 2019 response, Dr. Arthur Onobskey, Superintendent of Schools, mformed Mr. Cass, "'[a]s you are aware, the records sought in your request are the subject of [a] pending lawsuit you have filed against the Town of Wayland and several Town Officials in the United States District Court ... ('the lawsuit'). The Wayland Public Schools declines your request to produce any of the records requested above as they are the subject of ongoing litigation. In addition, it is my understanding that many, if not all, of these documents were produced in response to the plaintiffs First Request for Production [o]fDocuments in the lawsuit." As a result of the May 1 oth response, Mr. Cass petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. 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

Peter L. Mello, Esq. SPR19/944 Page2 May 24, 2019 In a May 17, 2019 letter to this office on behalf of the School as its Legal Counsel, you explained that Mr. Cass is the plaintiff in a pending federal court action against the School and others entitled, Cass v. Wayland Public Schools, et. al., U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, C.A. No. 1 :17-cv-11441 (the "Litigation"), and that the requested items are encompassed within the scope of the Litigation and its discovery proceedings. Accompanying your letter, you provided copies of Mr. Cass's two discovery requests, First Request for Production of Documents and Second Request for Production of Documents (RFPDs). You confirm that, "[the School] already has produced records from each of custodians in providing Mr. Cass with its voluminous, thorough and complete response to the 82 numbered requested contained in the RFPDs." Active litigation 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2)(b) provides in pe1iinent part: the Supervisor may deny an appeal for, among other reasons if, in the opinion of the Supervisor: 1. the public records in question are the subjects of disputes in active litigation, administrative hearings or mediation. In light of the information provided by the School in the May 1o th and May 1i 11 responses which explain that the responsive records relate to the subject matter of the U.S. District Court litigation filed by Mr. Cass, I find these records are the subject of dispute in active litigation. Therefore, I decline to opine on this matter. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2)(b) (1 ); Cass v. Wayland Public Schools, et. al., U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, C.A. No. 1 :17-cv- 11441. It should be noted that a change in the status of this litigation could impact the applicability of 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2)(b )(1 ). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Stephen Cass Dr. Arthur Unobskey, Superintendent