Celeste Hedequist v. Wellesley, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20231423)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records June 29, 2023 SPR23/1423 Cynthia Mahr Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Records Access Officer Wellesley Public Schools 40 Kingsbury Street Wellesley, MA 02481 Dear Ms. Mahr: On June 22, 2023, this office received your petition on behalf of the Wellesley Public Schools (School/Department) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). As required by law, the School furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. On June 6, 2023, Celeste Hedequist requested records related to communications between the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office and a named School employee. In an email to this office and the School on June 22, 2023, Ms. Hedequist stated that “[t]here should be limited emails, correspondence, etc. between the [School employee] and the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office … Also, redactions of minor’s names remedies the Town’s objections to the production of documents.” Petition for an Extension of Time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; 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

Cynthia Mahr SPR23/1423 Page 2 June 29, 2023 (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) must provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current Petition In its June 22, 2023 petition, the School requests “requests an additional 30 business days to respond.” In support of its petition, the School states: The School Department ran a preliminary email search in [a named individual’s] emails using [two search terms]. There are approximately 600 such remails [sic]. The School Department also checked for those same terms in [a named individual’s] Google Drive account. There were approximately 65 potentially responsive records in that account. When the search parameters were expanded to include [six additional search terms] the search identified 1,596 emails, and when [an additional search term] was added to the search, the results total over 6,000. Here, the Department estimates that it will take approximately 300 hours to segregate and redact the responsive records. Currently, the employees of the department are extremely busy due to the end of the school year. The breadth of the request and the expected highly confidential nature of the responsive records requires that the Department’s review be careful and thorough. I find that in light of the need to collect and segregate the records, as well as the capacity of the School to produce the records without an extension, the School has established good cause to permit an extension of time. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iii). The School is granted an extension of 30 business days Conclusion As described above, I find that the School has established good cause for a time extension of 30 business days.

Cynthia Mahr SPR23/1423 Page 3 June 29, 2023 Please note, Ms. Hedequist has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(c), 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Celeste Hedequist