Joseph W. Ford v. Attleboro, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20250697)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 20, 2025 SPR25/0697 Superintendent David Sawyer Records Access Officer Attleboro Public Schools One Blue Pride Way Attleboro, MA 02703 Dear Superintendent Sawyer: On March 12, 2025, this office received the petition of Michael J. Joyce, Esq., on behalf of the Attleboro Public Schools (School/District) seeking an extension of time to produce records, and relief from the obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, I understand that the School furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor, Joseph Ford. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). In its petition, the School explains that “from March 3, 2025 to March 11, 2025, the District has received over fifty-seven (57) pages of public records requests each with their own unique sub-request and/or requests.” Petitions for an Extension of Time; Relief from the Obligation to Provide Records 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; (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 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 David Sawyer SPR25/0697 Page 2 March 20, 2025 (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) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(b). Request for Additional Time to Produce Responsive Records In its petition, the School requests an extension of time. In an email to this office on March 20, 2025, an attorney for the School clarifies that “if the school district’s responsibility to provide the documents is not waived, given the volume (and continued volume based on additional requests), we would be seeking 90 days.” In its petition, the School provides the following information in support of its request: Since January 31, 2025, Mr. Ford has submitted an extraordinary number of public records requests to the District. Each request for public records contains multiple sub-requests. In total since January 31, 2025 the District has received well over eighty (80) pages of requests from Mr. Ford containing well over two hundred (200) requests for documents, data, and other information.... The District has responded to multiple requests since January 31, 2025, yet the requestor continues to file additional requests that are both unreasonable and frivolous. . . . It is clear from the requestor’s correspondence that the intent of these excess requests is not for the broad dissemination of information to the public but rather to gather specific information he is looking to use in relation to an administrative due process hearing that he has filed against the District. Both the nature and sheer volume of the frivolous requests demonstrate the requestors intent to use the public records law as a mechanism to harass and intimidate the District. Therefore, the District respectfully requests the Supervisor of Records to relieve the District of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought, or, in the alternative, grant an extension to respond to these requests. Please see enclosed for a copy of the requests sent by the requestor since January 31, 2025 to present. . . . It is clear from the multitude of frivolous requests that these requests are not based on a standard of reasonableness but are instead being used by the requestor as a way to intimidate and harass the District. Mr. Ford has currently requested administrative hearings with the state agency regarding his child. The requestor is

Superintendent David Sawyer SPR25/0697 Page 3 March 20, 2025 using public records law as a way to circumvent the administrative agencies’ discovery process and harass and intimidate the District to promote settlement. The abundance of records requested necessarily contains personally identifiable information about public school students, therefore if the District is forced to comply with the mounting number of requests the requestor continues to make, the District will be forced to spend an extraordinary amount of time searching and redacting records, diverting the District from their other obligations to public school students. . . . Here, the District has made a good faith effort to respond to the requests but due to the fact that the requestor continues to file multiple frivolous requests the District is unable to respond adequately without shutting aside their principal public functions to do so. Additionally, the requestor does not intend for the records sought to be disseminated to the public, as a significant amount of the requested records are in relation to a singular student. Accordingly, as Mr. Ford continues to make multiple frivolous requests that are not based on a standard of reasonableness or meant for public dissemination, the District respectfully requests that the Supervisor of Records grant an extension to produce the records requested or relieve the District of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Based on the information provided in the School’s petition, I find that in light of the need to search for, collect, segregate and examine the records, the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure, the capacity of the School to produce the request without the extension, efforts undertaken by the School in fulfilling the current requests and previous requests, the School has established good cause to permit an extension of time. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iv). The School is granted an extension of 30 business days. Request for Relief In its petition, the School also requests that this office “relieve the District of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought.” Based on the information provided in the School’s petition, as quoted above, I find that the School has not demonstrated that the requests are frivolous and not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, as required by G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Conclusion Accordingly, I find the School has established good cause for a time extension of 30 business days as described above. However, in light of the above, I cannot grant the School’s petition seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records. This office encourages Mr. Ford and the School to communicate directly in order to

Superintendent David Sawyer SPR25/0697 Page 4 March 20, 2025 facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification to the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Please note, Mr. Ford 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: Joseph Ford Michael J. Joyce, Esq.