Joseph W. Ford v. Attleboro, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20250829)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records April 2, 2025 SPR25/0829 Superintendent David Sawyer Records Access Officer Attleboro Public Schools One Blue Pride Way Attleboro, MA 02703 Dear Superintendent Sawyer: On March 26, 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 “on March 13, 2025, Mr. Ford sent five (5) additional emails which included nineteen (19) different requests for documents, data, and other information.” Subsequent to the School’s petition, in numerous emails to this office, Mr. Ford opposed the School’s petition. Petitions for an Extension of Time and for 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; 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 SPR25/0829 Page 2 April 2, 2025 (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) 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, and provides the following information in support of its request: Subsequent to the time the District filed its submission on March 12, 2025, Mr. Ford has continued to submit countless additional requests. On March 13, 2025, Mr. Ford sent five (5) additional emails which included nineteen (19) different requests for documents, data, and other information. In total since January 31, 2025, the District has received well over two hundred and twenty (220) different requests, some including multiple sub-requests. It is clear from the excessive amount of extremely broad requests that Mr. Ford’s intent in submitting these requests is not to gather information for broad dissemination to the public but rather to utilize the Public Records Law as a mechanism to intimidate and harass 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. . . . It is clear from the excessive amount of extremely broad requests that Mr. Ford’s requests are not tempered by a standard of reasonableness but are rather being used by the Requestor to overwhelm and drain the District’s resources, taking away from the District’s primary function which is to create a safe learning environment for all students. In the most recent requests submitted by the Requestor he makes seven (7) separate requests for “all emails, text message, and written correspondence” between multiple people, including individuals that are not District employees. These requests are not based on a standard of reasonableness. These requests are excessive and extremely burdensome. M. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i-iii) holds that the requestor must reasonably describe the

Superintendent David Sawyer SPR25/0829 Page 3 April 2, 2025 records sought. Many of the requests for communication fail to identify a timeline or subject matter for the communication requested. The requests as written have the potential to contain hundreds of thousands of emails, text messages, and communication, that would necessarily contain personally identifiable information of public-school students. Therefore, the District would have to spend an exorbitant amount of time searching, segregating, and redacting the requested communication. Additionally, these requests are not reasonable as they are a part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are designed to intimidate and harass the District. It is clear that the Requestor[’]s intent is to intimidate and harass the District as the Requestor uses antagonistic language in his correspondence, clearly showing that his intent is not to gather information for the broad dissemination to the public but rather in the Requestor[’s] own words “win”. In an email sent March 20, 2025, the Requestor demanded that the District not assess a fee for the redaction of personally identifiable information. M. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) holds that records custodian may charge a reasonable fee to recover the costs of complying with a public records request. Along with his demand for a waiver of a fee the Requestor wrote, “Let’s not have to go through this again with all subsequent requests, as not only will I win, but it will not be good PR to keep bullying me.” See Attachment C. Similar to the Court in Friedman, which found that the requestor created an adversarial setting by ensuing a hail of request, responses, petitions, additional responses and re-petitions, here the requestor has submitted far more requests than the requestor in Friedman and has even gone to the extent to threaten the District if they do not respond in manner in which he sees fit. Additionally, the requestor in Friedman only submitted thirteen (13) public records requests over roughly 8 months, comparatively the Requestor has submitted over two hundred and twenty (220) requests in only a month and a half’s time. I find that in light of the need to search for, collect, segregate and examine the records, the capacity of the School to produce the requests without the extension, and efforts undertaken by the School in fulfilling the current request 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).

Superintendent David Sawyer SPR25/0829 Page 4 April 2, 2025 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 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.