Math Parents Belmont v. Belmont, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20253166)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records November 7, 2025 SPR25/3166 Artemis Tingos Executive Assistant to the Superintendent Belmont Public Schools 644 Pleasant Street Belmont, MA 02478 Dear Mr. Tingos: I have received the petition of Belmont Math Parents (“requestor”) appealing the response of the Belmont Public Schools (School/BPS) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On October 3, 2025, the requestor sought, “[a]ll emails, texts and messages between [two identified individuals] . . . and/or [an identified individual] from January 1, 2024 to September 1, 2024 regarding math placement, Challenger Geometry, MDTP. This request is not seeking records related to any individual student or parent.” The School responded on October 3, 2025, providing a fee estimate. Objecting to the fees, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/3166, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates – Municipalities 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. 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 (2) 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, 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

Artemis Tingos SPR25/3166 Page 2 November 7, 2025 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 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 under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Fee Waivers G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(v) provides the following with respect to waiving a fee for the production of responsive records: the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee charged under this subsection upon a showing that disclosure of a requested record is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor, or upon a showing that the requestor lacks the financial ability to pay the full amount of the reasonable fee. In their October 27, 2025 appeal petition, the requestor states, “we believe the fee waiver standard has clearly been met in this case and we ask the Supervisor to strongly encourage the RAO to waive the fees[.]” Please be advised, although the Supervisor may encourage fees to be waived, the Supervisor may not mandate that a records access officer waive fees assessed for complying with a public records request; rather, as described above, the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee upon a showing of various factors. See G. L. c. 66, § 10 (d)(v); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). The School’s October 3rd Response In its October 3, 2025 response, the School cited a total fee estimate of $891.50 and provides the following in support of its fee estimate: If collecting, preparing, and redacting the requested documents will take more than two (2) hours, the Town may charge for the wages of the lowest-paid employee who can perform the research/copying or redacting work, up to $25 per hour. The first two (2) hours of labor are free. Total Hours, separated by task to be performed to fulfill the request . . . : Number of hours[:] [0].16 x $ 25 (maximum $25 per hour) = $4, performing the

Artemis Tingos SPR25/3166 Page 3 November 7, 2025 following task: Searching for the records Number of hours[:] 35.5 x $ 25 (maximum $25 per hour) = $887.50 performing the following task: Segregating the Records, Reviewing for Responsiveness, Uploading, Redacting 450 emails to review@ 5 minutes each = 2250 minutes or 37.5 hrs. First 2 hours are free. 35.66 hours of work. TOTAL good faith estimated fee for fulfillment of your Public Records Request is $891.50. Although the School has estimated that it will charge 0.16 hours to search for the records and 35.5 hours for “Segregating the Records, Reviewing for Responsiveness, Uploading, [and] Redacting” the records, it is not clear from the School’s estimate why the School requires this many hours to produce the records. Particularly, it is unclear why the School requires five minutes per email for review. If the School is assessing five minutes for review per page of the responsive emails, I find it is not clear how the School requires this amount of time to review each page of the responsive emails. If it is per email, I find the School must clarify how many pages there are per email. As such, the School must provide additional information regarding the tasks involved in producing the records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). Further, where the School indicates that it intends to redact the responsive records, it must clarify if the redactions are required by law, and state the applicable statutes, if any. Pursuant to the Public Records Law, a fee may 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)(ii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). The School must clarify this. The School’s fee estimate additionally lacks confirmation that the rate per hour is of the lowest rate for an employee capable of performing the tasks involved in producing the records. Further, although the School indicates that, “[t]he first two (2) hours of labor are free[,]” based on the calculations provided by the School, it remains unclear whether the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the records has been factored into the fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). For the reasons discussed above, I find the School must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fees assessed are consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide the requestor with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (10) business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this

Artemis Tingos SPR25/3166 Page 4 November 7, 2025 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: Belmont Math Parents