Corey Spaulding v. Palmer, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20232517)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records November 3, 2023 SPR23/2517 Superintendent Matthew Francis Palmer Public Schools 4107 Main Street Palmer, MA 01069 Dear Superintendent Francis: I have received the petition of Corey Spaulding appealing the response of the Palmer Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On October 18, 2023, Ms. Spaulding requested the following information: [1.] Please confirm that your finance director, [named individual]’s name continues to be misspelled on your agenda… [2.] [A named individual] knows member Noonan from Palmer Library Trustee but this was not made public per the minutes? [3.] [A named individual] is not licensed as a school administrator but per the minutes, [a named individual] was hired via MASBO to tutor her? [A named individual] was also employed by Palmer School Committee in 2012 - 2016? [4.] [A named individual] was hired by interim Superintendent . . . . [5.] [N]o forensic audit was ever conducted based on [a named individual]’s comments per the minutes that she did not see anything off? [6.] [P]er the minutes, Chair . . . questioned the gift account and inquired if there was a balance? [7.] [P]er the minutes and policies, Palmer School Committee does not accept grants and document the amounts per the minutes? [8.] Please provide me with the following information: all federal and state grants received by the Palmer School District for the past 5 years, please include the names of all who handled the grants (federal, state personnel involved) the applications, requests, awards, accounts and personnel involved in the accounting of grants, the invoices and receipts or transaction records on how, when, where the grants were appropriated, the amount spent and amount remaining, the criteria used to decide how to appropriate the grants, etc. Please be as specific as possible. The School responded on October 23, 2023. Unsatisfied with the School’s response, Ms. 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

Superintendent Matthew Francis SPR23/2517 Page 2 November 3, 2023 Spaulding petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR23/2517, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates 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 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). Petitions relating to fees must be submitted to the Supervisor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g). The School’s October 23rd Fee Estimate In its October 23, 2023 response, the School provided a fee estimate of $2,337.50 and stated: [The School has] determined that it would take approximately 87.5 hours to locate and copy the requested documents. In accordance with the Public Records Law, the hourly fee assessed cannot exceed $25.00 per hour. For communities with a population of more than 20,000, the hourly fee for the first two hours is waived. [A named individual] is the lowest paid employee of the Palmer Public Schools who could perform this task. Said employee makes $26.66 per hour. I estimate [a named individual] will need 87.5 hours to perform this task. I anticipate that there would be approximately 2,500 pages of copies at a charge of $0.05 per page, and there would be approximately 500 pages of computer printout copies at a charge of $0.05 per page consistent with the law. Based upon the above information, I request that you send the Palmer Public Schools a money order for $2,337.50… Although the School has estimated that the process of searching the responsive records for production will take 87.5 hours of employee time, it is uncertain why it would take this many

Superintendent Matthew Francis SPR23/2517 Page 3 November 3, 2023 hours to search for the responsive records. As such, the School must provide additional information regarding the tasks involved in producing these records. For the reasons discussed above, I find the School must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee assessed in its October 23rd estimate is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). I encourage Ms. Spaulding and the School to communicate further in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. Ms. Spaulding may wish to narrow the parameters or include applicable time periods or factors to enable the search to be processed. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(i). The School must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(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. Spaulding with a response to the request, provided 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 the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Corey Spaulding