Christina Hager v. Brockton, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20213124)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records December 13, 2021 SPR21/3124 Bou Lim Records Access Officer Brockton Public Schools 43 Crescent Street Brockton, MA 02301-4376 Dear Mr. Lim: I have received the petitions of Christina Hager of WBZ-TV - CBS Boston appealing the response of the Brockton Public Schools (School) to her request for public records. G. L. c. 66, §10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On November 16, 2021, Ms. Hager requested the following records: [1] … total number of Brockton Public School students (including charter schools) who have faced disciplinary action from the beginning of the 2021 school year to November 17th. [2] … a break-down of the number of students who've been given in-school suspension, the number given out-of-school suspension … the number expelled. [3] … the number of students who were arrested in school, and the number referred to law enforcement. The School responded on November 17, 2021. Unsatisfied with the response, Ms. Hager petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR21/3124, was opened as a result. Fees -Municipalities If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be · provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i). 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

Bou Lim SPR21/3124 Page 2 December 13, 2021 Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per how if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Petitions relating to fees must be submitted to the Supervisor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g). The School’s November 17th Fee Estimate In its November 17th response, the School provided a fee estimate of $150.00. The School states that, “ … we estimate it would take approximately 8 hours (for a manual search, assuming 1 minute per student file for at least 15,000 students in the District, it would take a total time of approximately 250 hours).” The School further stated, “… the District’s IT staff has a salary exceeding $25.00 per hour pro-rated, and the time spent creating a custom data analysis and report would be subject to a fee at the maximum rate under the Public Records Law of $25.00 per hour. As such, factoring in the 2 hours of free time, the total estimated fee is One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) for a custom data analysis and report.” The School also asserted that segregation and redactions are necessary pursuant to Exemption (a) and FERPA. Although the School has estimated that the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing responsive documents for production will take 6 hours of employee time, it is unclear how the School requires 6 hours to produce responsive records. It is also not clear from the School's estimate how many hours are allocated to search, and how many hours are allocated for segregation, and redaction of the records. Further, it is not clear what tasks are involved to prepare responsive records for production. As such, the School must provide further details regarding its fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). For the reasons discussed above, the School must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the $150 fee assessed in its November 17th estimate is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Ms. Hager with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within

Bou Lim SPR21/3124 Page 3 December 13, 2021 ten 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: Christina Hager