Nathaniel Adams v. Boston, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20240028)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records January 18, 2024 SPR24/0028 Shawn A. Williams, Esq. Director of Public Records City of Boston Office of the Corporation Counsel One City Hall Square Boston, MA 02201 Dear Attorney Williams: I have received the petition of Nathaniel Adams appealing the response of the Boston 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 10, 2023, Mr. Adams requested “data related to exam school admission: [o]n a tier-by-tier basis, for 7th grade admissions, the percentage of (a) applicants and (b) invitees, categorized by race (i.e., Asian, Black, Latin[a], Other and White).” Previous Appeal This request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR23/2894 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (December 14, 2023). In my December 14th determination, I found that the School had not met its burden in responding to the request. I ordered the School to provide an estimated date as to when it expects to provide the records, and to the extent possible, provide the responsive records on a rolling basis. On January 3, 2024, the School provided a link to the records responsive to Mr. Adams’ request. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Adams petitioned this office, and this appeal, SPR24/0028, was opened. 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 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

Shawn A. Williams, Esq. SPR24/0028 Page 2 January 18, 2024 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. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of 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. Current Appeal In Mr. Adams’ January 4, 2024 petition for the current appeal, he indicated: I am writing to appeal further on the basis that the information provided does not fully satisfy my request: [1]. In my request I specifically requested that data for White applicants be provided as a stand-alone category (which is how BPS typically reports race- based student data). In their reply file, BPS appears to have merged White and Other into a single category; [2]. Adding up the numbers of applicants and invitations reflected in this table, and assuming that every cell showing <10 in fact means 9 (an assumption that I’m pretty sure overstates those figures), my math shows a total of only 1,305 applicants and 970 invitations. However, BPS has indicated in numerous public documents that there were 1,355 applicants and 1,000 invitations in the relevant time period. (E.g., see tables 1/2 for applicant total, and table 3 for invitation total, in this memo: . . . [3] I would appreciate confirmation that the category labeled Hispanic in this file is exactly equivalent to the Latinx category that [the School] uses in other data reports (e.g., [S]ee [T]able 7 in the above-referenced memo). In response to the current appeal, the School provided a January 17, 2024 response, asserting, “[w]e have received your appeal stating the provided response is incomplete. We are in contact with [the School] regarding your request and another response will be prepared.” Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Mr. Adams with said response, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (10)

Shawn A. Williams, Esq. SPR24/0028 Page 3 January 18, 2024 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: Nathaniel Adams