Christianne Murray v. Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School - School Committee (SPR 20210572)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 23, 2021 SPR21/0572 Kristeen Patterson, MBA Director of Finance & Operations Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District 390 Lincoln Road Sudbury, MA 01776 Dear Ms. Patterson: I have received the petition of Christianne M. Murray appealing the response of the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional School District (District) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 29, 2021, Ms. Murray requested emails involving certain individuals from May 1, 2020 to present. The District provided a response on February 8, 2021, acknowledging the request and asking Ms. Murray if she could narrow or modify her request. The same day, Ms. Murray narrowed her request. A review of Ms. Murray’s email to the District indicates that she provided the District with a check in the amount of $1,000.00 for the responsive records. In a March 5th email, the District informed Ms. Murray, “[w]e received your check for the good-faith estimate of costs. We did not begin processing your request, beyond the initial two hours of work, because we just received the check this week. We now have 25 business days to provide the requested documents, unless we request and receive an extension from the Public Records Division. If we are able to process your request more quickly, we will.” As a result of the District’s expected time of 25 business days to produce the records, Ms. Murray petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Reasonable timeframe to produce records; extension of time If the municipality does not intend to permit inspection or furnish a copy of a requested record within ten (10) business days following receipt of the request; the municipality shall inform the requestor in writing not later than 10 business days after the initial receipt of the request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a), (b). 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

Kristeen Patterson SPR21/0572 Page 2 March 23, 2021 Under the Public Records Law, a records custodian, is not required to produce responsive records until receipt of payment of a reasonable fee. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(iii). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. Conclusion Accordingly, the District is ordered to provide Ms. Murray with the responsive records on a rolling basis as soon as practicable. 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 Supervisor of Records cc: Christianne M. Murray