Philip A. Dzialo v. Mohawk Trail School System (SPR 20190991)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 23, 2019 SPR19/991 Karen Totman Executive Secretary to the Superintendent of Schools Mohawk Trail Regional School District 24 Ashfield Road Shelbourne Falls, MA 01370 Dear Ms. Totman: I have received your petition on behalf of the Mohawk Trail Regional School District (District) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). As required by law, the District furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. In a request, Philip Dzialo sought records concerning artwork depicting the District's mascot. 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 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). 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

Karen Totman SPR19/991 Page 2 May 23, 2019 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 The District petitioned this office on May 21, 2019 requesting an extension of 5 business days. The District states that two essential staff members involved with the collection of the requested material would not be able to perform required duties due to being away from the District within the required timeframe. The District seeks a time extension in order search for the records in the departments and requests time to "import, convert, print, redact and send the documents to the requester." G. L. c. 66, § lO(c)(i)(ii)(iii). The Public Records Law provides that a municipality may provide a time frame not to exceed 25 business days to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(vi). As mentioned above, the District's time extension request indicated it would need "5 additional business days." Under the Public Records Law and Access Regulations (Regulations), a municipality must provide a written response to the requestor that may "suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably." G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(vii). This office encourages the District and Mr. Dzialo communicate further to enable the District to provide the requested public records. Conclusion Accordingly, given that the District has indicated it would produce records within 25 business days of receipt of the request, I find it unnecessary to opine on the District's petition for an extension of time to produce records at this time. The District must produce any responsive records to Mr. Dzialo in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations by June 17, 2019. Mr. Dzialo may appeal the substantive nature of the District's response within 90 days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Sincerely, · ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Philip Dzialo