Daniel J. Hedequist v. Wellesley, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20200129)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records January 24, 2020 SPR20/0129 Ivria Glass Fried, Esq. Town of Wellesley's School Department Miyares and Harrington LLP 40 Grove Street, Suite 190 Wellesley, MA 02482 Dear Attorney Fried: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Wellesley School Department (Department) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records or an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). On January 16, 2019, Dan Hedequist requested "all emails, attachments, and notes, memos and the like, from Celeste and / or Dan Hedequist to or copying Mark Ito from the date range March 1, 2016 May 20, 2016." 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.rna.us

Ivria Glass Fried, Esq. SPR20/0129 Page 2 January 24, 2020 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. a The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that 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). Conclusion In an email sent to this office on January 24, 2020, Mr. Hedequist wrote "[a]fter reconsidering our request for documents, we have decided to withdraw it." In light of Mr. Hedequist withdrawing his request, it is unnecessary to opine on the Department's petition at this time. Sincerely, ~a~ Supervisor of Records cc: Dan Hedequist