Corey Spaulding v. Natick, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20202158)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records November 23, 2020 SPR20/2158 Timothy Luff Assistant Superintendent Office of Student Services Town of Natick Public Schools 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 01760 Dear Mr. Luff: I have received the petition of Corey Spaulding appealing the response of the Town of Natick Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on October 28, 2020, Ms. Spaulding requested the following: 1. All residency investigations that were conducted by the school committee/school officials and Natick police department for the past 10 years; 2. Natick School Committee's policy on residency in 2013, 2014 - please confirm your latest policy was approved at the February 2015 meeting after I was forced to file in Superior Court in Dec. 2014; 3. The number of students who split their time between 2 custodial parents who maintain domicile in different districts/towns who were investigated; 4. The number of students who were excluded without due process from 2012-2020; 5. All information/correspondence between Natick School Department and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education "DESE" regarding the Spaulding family. My records confirm I notified DESE in October 2013 regarding SS feeling bullied by Natick Youth Football and Cheerleading/again in June 5, 2014. SS was excluded on June 17, 2014; 6. Please provide Natick School Committee’s policy on attendance/nonattendance in 2013/2014/2015; 7. Please provide any and all communication regarding SS attendance and parents' notification; 8. Please provide Natick School Committee's policy on anti-bullying; 9. Please provide any and all information regarding any investigation into Spaulding's claims of bullying by educators; 10. Please provide any and all PTO minutes from 2011 to present; 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

Timothy Luff, Assistant Superintendent SPR20/2158 Page 2 November 23, 2020 11. Please provide the names of the neighbors that Peter Sanchioni referred to in his sworn affidavit to the Superior Court - to date, Natick School Committee has not denied Karen Vaz and Avi Finder as being involved in the investigation; provide all additional names; 12. Per Court transcripts 2/2015- Andrew Waugh, your counsel, stated that teachers were threatening to resign because I sent so many emails to the teachers - factually, you have acknowledged I only sent 4 innocuous emails from September 2013/June 2014 - you had originally restricted emails based on content but when it was adjudicated that I had not sent any "inappropriate" (let alone threatening) emails, you restricted both parents right to advocate based on quantity. Please provide the names of the teachers who complained about the 4 emails over the academic year; 13. Please provide the number of parents (one parent) and (both parents) whose right to effectively advocate for their student was restricted based on 4 emails; 14. Per 3/2015 Court transcripts, Andrew Waugh admitted there were no inappropriate emails sent to staff, however, in emails from 6/2015 and onwards, Teresa Carney claimed she was restricting email correspondence based on "content' that she deemed appropriate. Please provide any and all emails received by Natick Schools from Corey and or John Spaulding that Ms. Carney was referencing; and, 15. Please provide any and all evidence that Doug Dias was employed as an assistant financial director by Natick Schools. In a November 4, 2020 response to the October 28th request, the School informed Ms. Spaulding: “[t]o the extent that any documents you have requested are in the possession of the [School], you have received all such documents and/or been informed that they do not exist or are not in our possession.” As a result, Ms. Spaulding petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Subsequently, the School provided a November 9, 2020 response to this office indicating that the School has already provided all the records it has in its possession. The School asserts: “[m]any of her requests are not for records, rather for information, or what she believes are in existence, and in fact are not. In terms of the records that she has requested, the ones that we have in our possession were already sent through various avenues. These were either provided through the Office of Civil Rights investigation she opened, her most recent lawsuit against the Natick Public Schools, and/or through her numerous other public records requests and our subsequent response. Again, there are no records in our possession that she hasn't already received based upon the request received.” No Duty to Create Records Please be advised, under the Public Records Law the School is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii).

Timothy Luff, Assistant Superintendent SPR20/2158 Page 3 November 23, 2020 Conclusion Whereas the School confirmed it has provided all records responsive to this request, accordingly, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Corey Spaulding