David A. Sanders v. Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (SPR 20212171)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 8, 2021 SPR21/2171 Albert G. Ganem, Jr. Superintendent Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District 621 Main Street Wilbraham, MA 01095 Dear Mr. Ganem: I have received the petition of David A. Sanders appealing the response of the Hampden- Wilbraham 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 July 13, 2021, Mr. Sanders requested copies of “any school committee meeting minutes of both open and executive sessions from 1/1/2020 until present where there is any reference or discussion of an equity audit or critical race theory.” On July 27, 2021, the District informed Mr. Sanders, “[p]lease know I will be working on a response to your request, which may require consultation with our attorney.” On August 9th, the District requested that Mr. Sanders provide it with additional time to complete his request for the missing school committee meeting minutes. The District also mentioned, “…although the minutes of a meeting are the official record, to my knowledge, videos of all those meetings last summer have been posted to the [s]chool [c]ommittee page and are available to the public, if that is an avenue [Mr. Sanders wishes] to take.” Unsatisfied with the District’s response, on August 23, 2021, Mr. Sanders petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In his petition, Mr. Sanders informed this office that he has not received the following school committee meeting minutes: 2/20/2020; 3/12/2020; 4/30/2020; 7/14/2020; 8/6/2020 and 8/20/20. He also noted that the video recordings of the meetings for 2/20/20; 3/12/20 and 4/30/20 are not available. It is my understanding that Ms. Belsky, the District’s RAO retired on August 21, 2021. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical 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

Albert G. Ganem, Jr. SPR21/2171 Page 2 September 8, 2021 form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). Records in Existence; Records Management 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). In light of Mr. Sanders’ listing of school committee meeting minutes from 2020 that have not been provided, and the District’s acknowledgement that there are missing meeting minutes, I find it is unclear whether the meeting minutes ever existed, or whether they did exist and were not properly retained. The District must clarify this issue. This office encourages Mr. Sanders and the District to continue to communicate to facilitate providing Mr. Sanders with the remaining meeting minutes. I also advise the District to facilitate providing these records on a rolling basis. I find that the District must demonstrate whether it followed proper records retention protocol. Please note, the District must institute safeguards to ensure that all records are retained in accordance with both applicable law as well as the retention schedules promulgated by this office. G. L. c. 66, §§ 1, 8, 13, 15. I advise the District to review the records retention materials available online at www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm. Conclusion Accordingly, the District is ordered to provide Mr. Sanders with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. 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: David A. Sanders