Laura H. Ortiz v. Lynn, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20220159)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 4, 2022 SPR22/0159 Charles Gallo, J.D. Compliance Officer Lynn Public Schools 100 Bennett Street Lynn, MA 01905 Dear Mr. Gallo: I have received the petition of Laura Ortiz appealing the response of the Lynn 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 18, 2021, Ms. Ortiz requested 11 categories of records regarding food services from 2018 to 2021. For Items 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10, Ms. Ortiz requested: [3] Copy of all communication between the City of Lynn and/or Lynn Public School District/other to/from Chartwells and/or Chartwells K12 regarding any issues with the food services they provided and/or that was raised by LPS staff, students and/or parents. This request is not limited to [21] key words . . . . Note: For School Years 2021-2022, 2020-2021[,] 2019-2020 and 2018-2019. . . . [4] Copy of all communication between the City of Lynn and/or Lynn Public School District/other to/from Chartwells and/or Chartwells K12 Partner Revolution Foods regarding any issues with the food services they provided and/or that was raised by LPS staff, students and/or parents. This request is not limited to [21] key words. . . . Note: For School Years 2021-2022, 2020-2021[,] 2019-2020 and 2018-2019. . . . [5] Copy of all communication between the Lynn Public School District/other to/from City of Lynn regarding any issues with the food services in Lynn Public Schools served to staff and students and/or that was raised by LPS staff, students and/or parents. This request is not limited to [21] key words. . . . Note: For School Years 2021-2022, 2020-2021[,] 2019-2020 and 2018-2019. . . . [6] Copy of all communication between the Lynn Public School District/other to/from the Food Services Department regarding any issues with the food services in Lynn Public Schools served to staff and students. This request is not limited to [21] key words. . . . Note: For School Years 2021-2022, 2020-2021[,] 2019-2020 and 2018-2019. . . . 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

Charles Gallo, J.D. SPR22/0159 Page 2 February 4, 2022 [10] Copy of all communication between the Lynn Public School District/other to/from Madres de Lynn regarding any issues with the food services in Lynn Public Schools served to staff and students and/or that was raised by LPS staff, students and/or parents through Madres de Lynn. This request is not limited to [21] key words. . . . Note: For School Years 2021-2022, 2020-2021[,] 2019-2020 and 2018-2019. . . . Previous appeals The request was the subject of previous appeals. See SPR21/2939 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (November 19, 2021); SPR21/3067 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (December 6, 2021); SPR 21/3316 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (December 29, 2021); SPR21/3380 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (January 13, 2022) and SPR22/0080 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (January 18, 2022). SPR22/0080 was closed with the understanding that the School would provide a supplemental response. The School provided a response on January 24, 2022. Unsatisfied with the School’s response, Ms. Ortiz petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR22/0159, was opened as a result. Fee estimate – municipalities 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). 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 hour 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). The Schools January 24th response In its January 24, 2022 response, the School provided further clarification regarding its November 1st fee estimate as follows:

Charles Gallo, J.D. SPR22/0159 Page 3 February 4, 2022 . . . Compilation: 4+ hours (time has already been spent by Lynn Public Schools) Segregation, redaction, reproduction: 1 minute per email. 2 million emails at 1 minute each = 33,333.33 hours. Accordingly, the RAO requested payment of a reasonable fee of $833,333.33 using the state rate of $25 per hour. . . . The northshorelaborcouncil@gmail.com email address was first raised by the Requestor in Appeal SPR21/2939. 157 more emails resulted from a search for northshorelaborcouncil@gmail.com. In order to compile, segregate, redact or reproduce, a good faith estimate is 1 minute per email. At $25/hour, the estimate for only northshorelaborcouncil@gmail.com is $65.42. Adding the above to the previous estimate of 33,333.33 hours, the grand total is 33,335.95 hours. At $25/hour, the updated estimate is $833,398.75. . . . The School indicated that the records need to be redacted pursuant to Exemptions (a) and (c) of the Public Records Law, as well as the attorney-client privilege. Current appeal In her appeal petition, Ms. Ortiz states that she narrowed her request on November 22, 2021 as follows: Modification of To/From/CC/BCC X). LunchProgram mailing list**, @compass-use.com, northshorelaborcouncil@gmail.com Y) . . . . @lynnschools.org, . . . @lynnschools.org, . . . @lynnschools.org . . . ** Please note: Lunch Program being accessed while working in the Food Services Department, on this organizational Microsoft Outlook/other system, two of these individuals are head food service staff regardless if dually employed with any wholesale vendors, the correspondents are identified as . . . so these correspondent public records exist and were utilized from 2018-2021 Modification of keywords: “meal complaint”, “complaint”; “expired”; “spoiled”; “rotten”; “inedible”; “madres” Keeping last modification of timeframe (to be searched in separate batches to initiate a rolling records reasonable response all RAO’s are capable of): this school year 1st 2021-2022 so April 1 2021- October 27 2021, then Oct 1 2020- April 1 2021, then April 1 2020-Oct 1 2020, then Oct 1 2019-April 1 2020, then April 1 2019-Oct 1 2019, then Oct 1 2018-April 1 2019, and then Jan 1 2018- Oct 1 2018 . . .

Charles Gallo, J.D. SPR22/0159 Page 4 February 4, 2022 In light of the modified request, it is unclear if the School’s initial fee estimate still applies. The School must clarify this matter. Ms. Ortiz and the School are encouraged to communicate in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Ms. Ortiz with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (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: Laura Ortiz