Massachusetts Public Records Law Request: Public Records Request for Data on School Policing (Mendon-Upton School District)

Google Forms

Thanks for filling out MURSD Record Request Form
Here's what was received.

MURSD Record Request Form

Please request your student or public records using this form. Please
provide as much specific information about your request as possible to
assist us in retrieving the record(s) you seek.

Email *

requests@muckrock.com

Requestor's First Name *

Katherine

Requestor's Last Name

Stathulis

Requestor's Street Address

MuckRock News DEPT MR 158182, 263 Huntington Ave

Requestor's Town

Boston

Requestor's State

Massachusetts

Requestor's Zip Code

02115

Requestor's Phone Number

6172991832

Requestor's Email (if different from above)

Connection to MURSD

Parent

Press

Special interest group

Other:

Name of Student (if applicable)

Describe the records you are requesting. Please be as specific as possible
including; Names, Dates, Business Names, Numbers, Key Words, etc., to avoid
delays in processing your request *

To Whom It May Concern: Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I
hereby request the following records: To whoever it may concern: This
letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, GL c.66,
§10, for public records in the custody of your school district. Under the
Criminal Justice Reform Act, school districts and law enforcement agencies
must “specify the manner and division of responsibility for collecting and
reporting the school-based arrests, citations and court referrals of
students to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education” (DESE).
DESE began collecting data on school-related arrests in the 2018-19 school
year. In the 2019-20 school year, DESE has expanded that collection to
include data on all referrals to law enforcement. DESE has defined these
terms as follows, borrowing the same definitions used by the US Department
of Education since its 2009 Civil Rights Data Collection. A school-related
arrest “[r]efers to an arrest of a student for any activity conducted on
school grounds, during off campus school activities (including while taking
school transportation), or due to a referral by any school official. All
school-related arrests are considered referrals to law enforcement.” A
referral to law enforcement “[i]s an action by which a student is reported
to any law enforcement agency or official, including a school police unit,
for an incident that occurs on school grounds, during school-related
events, or while taking school transportation, regardless of whether
official action is taken. Citations, tickets, court referrals, and
school-related arrests are considered referrals to law enforcement.” I
request the following public records, as defined in GL c. 4, § 7
(twenty-sixth): 1. An extract of your records management system or database
that includes each school-related arrest and each referral to law
enforcement conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and
2021-2022 school year (up until the day the records are produced).
Specifically, we request an extract of the database to include the
following columns: a. Date of arrest or referral to law enforcement b. Time
of arrest or referral to law enforcement c. Charge (or charges) d. Whether
the individual(s) was arrested or referred to law enforcement e. Sex of
individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement f. Age of
individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement g. Race of
individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement h. Ethnicity of
individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement i. Disability status
of the individual(s) arrested or referred to law enforcement j. Whether the
individual arrested or referred to law enforcement is a student at the
school. k. Name of arresting officer, if applicable, and l. Badge number of
the arresting officer or the officer that referred the youth to law
enforcement, as applicable. 2. If such an extract of the database in
question 1 is not possible, please provide school incident reports on each
school-related arrest and referral to law enforcement conducted during the
2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022 school year (up until the
day the records are produced). 3. A copy of any active standard operating
procedures developed with the police department and/or other law
enforcement agencies regarding police placement or activity in your
corresponding school; and, 4. Any records instructing or informing police
personnel of, or otherwise describing data reporting requirements and
procedures for complying with GL c. 71 § 37P(b). 5. The cost to the school
district of assigning a school resource officer to each school; and, 6. The
total number of school resource officers and total number of guidance
counselors for each school in your district for school years 2018-2019,
2019-2020, 2020-2021, and, 7. The total number and a brief description of
911 calls from schools in your district to local police departments
conducted during the 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022, and,
8. A description of the proposed budget for mental, social, or emotional
health support personnel for the school district. As this request involves
a matter of public interest and will not be used for any commercial
purpose, we ask that all fees associated with this request be waived
pursuant to 950 CMR 32.07(2)(k). The purpose of this request is to
determine whether your school district and police department are complying
with their reporting obligations under the Criminal Justice Reform Act.
“The public has an interest in knowing whether public servants are carrying
out their duties in an efficient and law-abiding manner.” It would be
ill-advised to impose a fee for data that your school district may have
failed to report in violation of statutory and regulatory duty. Moreover,
as you know, municipalities with a population of over 20,000 may not assess
a fee for the first 2 hours of time spent searching for, compiling,
segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record. Finally,
pursuant to 950 CMR 32.07(2)(i), a records access officer shall assess no
fee greater than the lowest hourly rate of a person capable of compiling,
segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record. In the event
that a charge is incurred for this request which you will not waive, please
so indicate and include an itemization of estimated good faith costs.
Please provide public records to a requestor in an electronic format unless
the record is not available in an electronic format. GLc 66, § 6A(d). The
Public Records Act requires that you comply with this request within ten
(10) business days following receipt. If you believe that documents or data
responsive to any request herein is not public record and thus not subject
to disclosure, please set forth in writing the specific reasons for such
assertion, including the specific exemption or exemptions that you believe
apply. To the extent that you determine that records need to be redacted in
order to be produced under any law protecting the privacy of named
individuals, please do so rather than withholding them in their entirety.
If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to
respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-373-5862 or by email at
k.stathulis@northeastern.edu. Thank you in advance for your prompt response
to this request. Sincerely, Katherine Stathulis, Esq. Center for Public
Interest, Advocacy, and Collaboration Northeastern University School of Law
Upload documents directly:
https://www.muckrock.com/

What department should be notified of your request?

Business Office

Special Education

Human Resources

Other:

Is there any other information you can provide us that may help us fill
your request?

Create your own Google Form

Report Abuse