Naomi Martin v. Lynn, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20220479)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 8, 2022 SPR22/0479 Charlie Gallo Records Access Officer Lynn Public Schools 100 Bennett Street Lynn, MA 01905 Dear Mr. Gallo: I have received the petition of Naomi Martin 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 February 3, 2022, Ms. Martin requested: [1] any and all contracts or invoices with outside vendors or private parties for legal, investigative or human resources work from Jan. 1, 2007 through Jan. 30, 2022 pertaining to inquiries related to allegations of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination or other misbehavior or misconduct by students, staff members, and/or coaches. [2] and any all related records to such services provided from Jan. 1 2007 through Jan. 30, 2022… The School provided an initial response and fee estimate on February 14, 2022. The School also provided subsequent responses on February 15 and 25, 2022. Unsatisfied with the School’s collective responses and fee estimate, Ms. Martin petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR22/0479, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates – 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 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

Charlie Gallo SPR22/0479 Page 2 March 8, 2022 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 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 under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). The School’s February 14th, 15th, and 25th Responses On February 14, 2022, the School stated: 92 invoices exist that may be responsive to your request. Each will likely have related records. 1.5 hours per invoice is the estimate to compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the invoices and related records. Subtotal 138 hours. 4 hours without fee. Grand total 134 hours at $25/hour = $3,350. On February 15, 2022, the School stated: For each invoice, I will need to review each billing line to see whether or not it may concern “allegations of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination or other misbehavior or misconduct by students, staff members, and/or coaches.” The attached sample has 8 billing lines for me to consider in this regard. If a billing line does or may possibly concern allegations of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination or other misbehavior or misconduct by students, staff members, and/or coaches, I will next need to find “any and all related records…” On February 25th, Ms. Martin stated: …I am seeking to narrow down the request to what we're interested in and not unnecessarily burden the district. As a starting point, can you please provide just the executive summary/summary/conclusion of each investigation report done by an outside contractor that falls within the scope of our request? That way we can know which ones, if any, we'd like to receive the full version of.

Charlie Gallo SPR22/0479 Page 3 March 8, 2022 On February 25th, the School stated in response: The fee estimate previously provided would [still] apply…There is no existing list or index. My February 15th email explains the process that I would need to go through in order to compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the requested records. My email of February 14th includes suggestions on how to proceed, namely remitting the fee or, narrowing your request significantly in terms of scope and in terms of time period should you wish to try to reduce the current fee estimate. Current Appeal In her current appeal, Ms. Martin stated: …I have attempted to work in good faith with the [School] to narrow the scope of my request in order to reduce the fee estimate. However, contrary to its obligation to use its superior knowledge, the [School] has responded by explaining that even providing exclusively [summaries] of each investigation report…would cost the full $3,350… Although the School estimates that it will cost $3,350.00 for all responsive records, it is unclear how it requires 1.5 hours to compile, segregate, redact, and reproduce records related to each invoice. Specifically, it is unclear how long the School will spend on each of those respective tasks. The School must provide further details regarding the tasks involved, including the time it is allocating to compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing the requested records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). This office encourages Ms. Martin and the School to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii)(an agency or 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 agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Ms. Martin 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.

Charlie Gallo SPR22/0479 Page 4 March 8, 2022 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Naomi Martin