Nickole Johanson v. Waltham, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20221201)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records June 7, 2022 SPR22/1201 Brian K. Reagan, Ed. D. Superintendent of Schools Town of Waltham Public Schools 617 Lexington Street Waltham, MA 02452 Dear Dr. Reagan: I have received the petition of Nickole Johanson appealing the response of the Town of Waltham Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On March 31, 2022, Ms. Johanson requested a copy of all paper and electronic records, from September 1, 2021 to the date of her request, that were received or sent by thirty- three (33) specifically-named individuals. Prior appeal After not receiving a response from the School within ten (10) business days, Ms. Johanson petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and an appeal was opened on April 19, 2022. On April 25th, Ms. Johanson sent an email to the School inquiring whether her request and the appeal file was received. In an April 26th email, the School informed Ms. Johanson that it received her request and the response was being processed. See SPR22/0911 Determination of the Supervisor (May 3, 2022). On May 18, 2022, the School informed Ms. Johanson, “[t]he query has been completed and it returned over 20,000 documents and emails. The vast majority of these are likely not responsive to your request, but the search parameters you provided cast a wide net. I need to review these documents to ensure that the items you are receiving are relative to your request. I am working with counsel to determine how long this process may take.” Current appeal As a result of the School’s May 18th response, Ms. Johanson petitioned the Supervisor, and the current appeal was opened. The basis of Ms. Johanson’s appeal is that she has not received any of the documents she requested. The duty to comply with requests for records 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

Dr. Brian K. Reagan SPR22/1201 Page 2 June 7, 2022 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 accordance with the Public Records Law, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requestors in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04 According to the School’s May 18th email to Ms. Johanson, the School asserted “[t]he vast majority of [the documents and emails retrieved] are likely not responsive to your request, but the search parameters you provided cast a wide net.” The School explained that it must review the documents for responsiveness to the request. It is unclear whether the School can assist Ms. Johanson to modify and/or narrow the request with the use of a further key word search, subject matter and/or timeline criteria to cull the records responsive to the request, and to reduce the number of records from 20,000 documents that the School retrieved using Ms. Johanson’s March 31st records’ criteria. Please be advised, G. L. c. 66, § 10(b) provides, in pertinent part, that if the magnitude or difficulty of the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of the agency or municipality such that the agency or municipality cannot provide records within 10 business days, the agency or municipality must inform the requestor in writing within 10 business days. With respect to the time-frame to produce responsive records, the written response shall: identify a reasonable timeframe in which the agency or municipality shall produce the public records sought; provided, that for an agency, the timeframe shall not exceed 15 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records and for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records; and provided further, that the requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond the timeframes set forth herein. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Where Ms. Johanson’s request was submitted on March 31, 2022, and the School has not provided any of responsive records pertaining to her request, I find that the School has not met its burden in responding to the request in accordance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Consequently, I find the School must provide an estimated date as to when it intends to complete the review of the records and provide those records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (records must be provided without unreasonable delay). To the extent possible, the School must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. I also encourage the parties to continue to communicate to enable the School to provide Ms. Johanson with the responsive records. Order Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Ms. Johanson with a response to the

Dr. Brian K. Reagan SPR22/1201 Page 3 June 7, 2022 request, 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 pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, ~ ~- ·· o -I) A • • • • ~.. · Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Nickole Johanson