Lisa Dobson v. Millbury, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20213072)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records December 1, 2021 SPR21/3072 Kerri Sundeen Records Access Officer Millbury Public Schools 12 Martin Street Millbury, MA 01527 Dear Kerri Sundeen: I have received the petition of Lisa Dobson appealing the response of the Millbury Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On October 7, 2021, Ms. Dobson requested, “any paper or digital correspondence to and/or between individuals from the Millbury Public School District Central office regarding concerns and/or complaints of bus route and bus stop decisions for [a certain school bus] occurring between August 1, 2021 and October 7, 2021.” Previous Appeal The records sought were the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR21/3047 Supervisor of Records Determination (November 19, 2021). The School provided a supplemental response on November 19, 2021. Unsatisfied with that response, Ms. Dobson petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR21/3072, was opened as a result. 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 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). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian 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

Kerri Sundeen SPR21/3072 Page 2 December 1, 2021 must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii); -se-e -a-ls-o 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. The School’s November 19th Response On November 19, 2021, the School stated, “in regards to Ms. Dobson, the original request was for any and all email correspondences pertaining to [the named bus]. I had our IT department pull any and all emails that had anything to do with [the named bus]. Any emails that were not included in that search were pertaining to [an unrelated special education bus].” Current Appeal On November 20, 2021, Ms. Dobson stated, “the school mentions they pulled emails that had anything to do with [the named bus] and had no other search parameters. As I pointed out in appeal SPR21/3047, it had asked for all concerns and/or complaints for bus route and bus stop decisions for [the named bus]. I am aware of two complaints/concerns related to the bus route for [the named bus] that were submitted to the school within the time frame requested. Both of these inquiries resulted in a decision for a bus stop on the bus route for [the named bus]. Neither of these records are included in the schools response and are being withheld. Additionally, on the bus schedule there are [a certain number of] streets listed on the bus route for [the named bus] that services many other streets throughout its route. None of these streets were included in the schools search. This raises concerns about the accuracy of the records provided in question and I ask you to re-evaluate this appeal.” On November 22, 2021, the School supplemented its response by forwarding an email containing the search terms used for this request from the School’s IT Department to Ms. Dobson. That same day, Ms. Dobson responded by saying, “to satisfy the records request, the Network administrator needs to conduct a thorough search for all concerns and/or complaints for bus route and bus stop decisions for [the named bus]. Search terms should not be limited to [the named bus] and should include any streets listed on the official bus schedule for [the bus’s] route. This would ensure any responsive records are not being withheld.” In light of Ms. Dobson’s email on November 22nd, it appears that Ms. Dobson is expanding her request to include all records regarding “concerns and complaints for bus route and bus stop decisions for [the named bus]…include[ing] any streets listed…” Ms. Dobson’s original request was for “all correspondence to and/or between individuals from the Millbury public schools regarding concerns and/or complaints for [the named bus and bus route].” See SPR21/3047 Supervisor of Records Determination (November 19, 2021).

Kerri Sundeen SPR21/3072 Page 3 December 1, 2021 If Ms. Dobson would like to obtain copies of these records, Ms. Dobson is advised that she should make a separate public records request to the School’s RAO containing her expanded search terms. Ms. Dobson may then appeal the substantive nature of the School’s response within ninety calendar days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1); see also Jaideep Chawla v. Dept of - - - - Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. l 784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019) (holding that “[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production.”). Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Lisa Dobson