May 9th Incident

Erin Stewart filed this request with the Somerville Public Schools of Somerville, MA.
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Communications

From: Erin Stewart

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

1. Copies of notes, memorandums, and incident reports detailing Somerville Public Schools’ investigation of any incident transpiring on May 9, 2022 involving a police officer at Somerville High School
2. Copies of any documents describing the repercussions, if any, for the police officer’s conduct during the incident that transpired on May 9, 2022.
3. Copies of any records containing communications, instructions or other information between school and police personnel, or any communications with others in Somerville Public Schools of this incident

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 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). Specifically, “The public has an interest in knowing whether public servants are carrying out their duties in an efficient and law-abiding manner.”

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 C.M.R. 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. G.L.c. 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 at (605) 405-6229. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Erin Stewart

From: Somerville Public Schools

Dear Ms. Stewart, the District received a letter from you/MuckRock dated September 5, 2023 seeking a response to your January 18, 2023 request to the Somerville Public Schools. SPS responded to this request by email on January 31, 2023. A copy of that response attached.

Thank you.

Susana Hernandez Morgan, Ed.D. (she/her)
Chief of Staff & Strategy
Somerville Public Schools
167 Holland St., Somerville MA 02144
Desk: (617) 629-5221 (internal ext. 6013)
somerville.k12.ma.us<http://www.somerville.k12.ma.us/>

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