Lydus Grey v. East Longmeadow, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20222242)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 17, 2022 SPR22/2242 Gordon C. Smith Superintendent of Schools East Longmeadow Public Schools 180 Maple Street East Longmeadow, MA 01028 Dear Superintendent Smith: I have received the petition of Lydus Grey appealing the response of the East Longmeadow Public Schools (School) to requests for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On September 21, 2022, Mr. Grey made six requests for emails from named individuals for specified time periods, along with external job postings. The School responded on September 30, 2022, denying the requests. Unsatisfied with the School’s response, Mr. Grey appealed, and this case was opened as a result. Previous Petition These requests, along with others, were the subject of a previous petition from the School and the Town of East Longmeadow (Town). See SPR22/2239 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (October 7, 2022). In my October 7th determination, I found that I could not grant the Town’s petition seeking relief from the obligation to produce responsive records. 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 agency or municipality 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. Att’y for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of 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

Gordon C. Smith SPR22/2242 Page 2 October 17, 2022 establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian 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); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. The School’s September 30th Response In its September 30, 2022 response, the School states that it “will not respond to any of these requests, or future requests related to the same subject matter, as to do so would involve hours and hours of needless document review and expenses.” In addition, the School argues that Justin Wilson-Gabor is “clearly utilizing an alias” and is “behind the requests from ‘Lydus Grey.’” Additionally, the School argues in its September 30th response that “it would take hours reviewing, segregating and redacting documents which are subject to these numerous requests. It is clear that the basis for these requests are not for a valid purpose and instead to retaliate against and harass the School District and Town.” Further, the School states that “to the extent [the requestor is] submitting overly broad and burdensome amounts of records requests under fake aliases to try to uncover information to use against School District leaders and parents who [he has] personal issues with, [the School] will not respond to these requests unless ordered to by the Supervisor of Public Records.” Identity or Status of the Requestor Please note that the reason for which a requestor seeks access to or a copy of a public record does not afford any greater right of access to the requested information than other persons in the general public. The Public Records Law does not distinguish between requestors. Access to a record pursuant to the Public Records Law rests on the content of the record and not the circumstances of the requestor. Given this, the requestor may not be required to identify himself or herself as a condition of obtaining access to the requested records. See Bougas v. Chief of Police of Lexington, 371 Mass. 59, 64 (1976) (“the statute . . . extends the right to examine public records to ‘any person’ whether intimately involved with the subject matter of the records he seeks or merely motivated by idle curiosity”). Accordingly, a requestor’s status will play no role in a determination as to whether the records should be disclosed or redacted under the Public Records Law. Burden of Specificity; Duty to Segregate Under the Public Records Law, the burden shall be upon the custodian to prove with specificity the exemptions which apply. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); see also Globe Newspaper Co. v. Police Comm’r, 419 Mass. 852, 857 (1995); Flatley, 419 Mass. at 511. In this case, the School did not meet its burden of demonstrating how the responsive records are exempt from disclosure

Gordon C. Smith SPR22/2242 Page 3 October 17, 2022 under the Public Records Law. See Reinstein v. Police Comm’r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289- 90 (1979) (the statutory exemptions are narrowly construed and are not blanket in nature). The School must produce any non-exempt, segregable portions of the public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a). In addition, the School did not identify the records, categories of records or portions of records in its possession that it intends to withhold from disclosure. To deny access to a record under the Public Records Law, a records access officer must identify the record, categories of records, or portions of the record it intends to withhold. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3)(c)(4). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Mr. Grey with a response to his request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Lydus Grey Brendan Hughes, Esq.