Commonwealth Transparency v. Malden, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20242356)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records August 30, 2024 SPR24/2356 Superintendent Timothy Sippel Record Access Officer Malden Public Schools 110 Pleasant Street Malden, MA 02148 Dear Superintendent Sippel: I have received the petition of Commonwealth Transparency (“requestor”) appealing the response of the Malden 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 July 18, 2024, the requestor sought: From the time such records begin, through 7/18/2024, please extract the author and all recipients (To:, Cc:, and/or Bcc:), date (but not the body or attachments) sent or received by any email address in the possession and/or under the control of the City of Malden, including but not limited to the City (@cityofmalden.org), The Schools (@maldenps.org), (thus search all systems), where any address under the control of [a named individual] appears as either/or both the author or recipient (To:, Cc:, and/or Bcc:) AND where any email address of [a named individual] appears as either/or both the author or recipient (To:, Cc:, and/or Bcc:) This requests specifically seeks, the To:, From:, Cc:, and Bcc: address fields, the Date and Time that the message was sent and/or received, and whether there was or was not an attachment. This requests specifically requests that the export be provided in ONLY .CSV or .XLSX form. Previous Appeal This request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR24/2137 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (August 9, 2024). In my August 9th Determination, I ordered the School to provide the requestor with a response to the request. The School responded on August 20, 2024, denying access to the responsive records, and citing Exemption (o) of the Public Records Law. 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 Timothy Sippel SPR24/2356 Page 2 August 30, 2024 See G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(o). Unsatisfied with the School’s response, the requestor appealed, and this case, SPR24/2356, was opened as a result. 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 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. See 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 the appeal petition, the requestor states, “Malden appears to believe that G. L. c. 4, § 7 (26)(o) applies to municipal employees performing public business on an email account which is not public, nor under the control or custody of the municipality.” The School’s August 20th Response In its August 20, 2024 response, the School cites Exemption (o) of the Public Records Law for redacting the records responsive to the request. See G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(o). Exemption (o) Exemption (o) applies to: the home address, personal email address and home telephone number of an employee of the judicial branch, an unelected employee of the general court, an agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of a political subdivision thereof or of an authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, in the custody of a government agency which maintains records identifying persons as falling within those categories; provided that the information may be disclosed to an

Superintendent Timothy Sippel SPR24/2356 Page 3 August 30, 2024 employee organization under chapter 150E, a nonprofit organization for retired public employees under chapter 180, or a criminal justice agency as defined in section 167 of chapter 6. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(o). The School states, “[t]here were times where personal email addresses of employees were redacted. However, Exemption (o) allows the redaction of the personal emails of those individuals[.] … Exemption (o) does not have any restriction on when personal emails can or cannot be redacted in terms of public business or not. Furthermore, the email addresses were redacted when they were not engaging in city business, such as a parent teacher organization event. The PTO is a separate entity from the schools.” Where the School has indicated that it redacted personal email addresses of employees under Exemption (o), I find the School may permissibly redact the information from the records. Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Commonwealth Transparency