Monique Johnson v. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (SPR 20191093)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 14, 2019 SPR19/1093 Ms. Helene Bettencourt Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 7 5 Pleasant Street Malden, MA 02148-4906 Dear Ms. Bettencourt: I have received the petition of Ms. Monique Johnson appealing the nonresponse of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Ms. Johnson requested "proof that METCO Inc has ever in its existence transported a special needs child on a special needs bus." Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § IO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § IO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Department has not provided Ms. Johnson a response to her request for records despite indicating that it intended to. Order Accordingly, Department is ordered to provide Ms. Johnson with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and it's Regulations without delay. 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 cc: Ms.Monique Johnson Supervisor of Records 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