School Based Arrest Public Record Request (Springfield Public Schools)
| Tracking # |
R007462-022223 |
| Multi Request | School Based Arrest Public Record Request |
| Submitted | Feb. 17, 2023 |
| Due | March 14, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | None |
MuckRock users can file, duplicate, track, and share public records requests like this one. Learn more.
Communications
From: Erin Stewart
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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 G. L. 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 G.L. 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 C.M.R. 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 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.
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. If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-338-1050 or by email at Erinstewart@cfjj.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
From: Springfield Public Schools
Dear Erin Stewart:
The City of Springfield is in receipt of your public records request.
Your request was received on 2/22/2023 and assigned the Reference Number R007462-022223 for tracking purposes. Your request will be forwarded to the appropriate department[s] and a response will be sent to you as soon as we have obtained and reviewed any document[s] that may be responsive to your request. Pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 66, section 10(b), the City has ten [10] business days to respond to your request.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.00 and Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 66, section 10A(a). Below is the Supervisor's contact information. A copy of your request letter or email should be included with your appeal and mailed to:
Supervisor of Records
One Ashburton Place, Room 1719
Boston, MA 02108
You also have the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision by commencing a civil action in Superior Court under Mass. Gen. Laws chapter 66, section 10A(c). You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below. An email will be sent to you once your request has been completed.
Thank you for using the City of Springfield's Public Record Request Portal.
Sincerely,
Justin P. Morin
Public Records Coordinator
From:
Good Afternoon Ms. Stewart,
I am contacting you in regard to your public record request. Your request will require a fee estimate. In regard to item #1, please see the attached document as a sample. If you are willing to modify your request to accept this type of report for the years 2018 through 2023, the fee estimate will be much lower as it will take approximately two hours to gather the records for item 1 alone (before redactions are made). If you are willing to accept the records for item #1 similar to the attached example, a fee estimate will only need to be drafted for the redaction process. In addition, the emergency communication records you requested in item #7 will also require a fee estimate as well. Please let me know if you would like the documents for item #1 to appear as the attachment and I will follow back up with our good faith fee estimate to gather these records. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Justin Morin
Justin P. Morin
Public Records Coordinator
City of Springfield Law Department
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103
Main: (413) 787-6085
Direct: (413) 787-6550
Fax: (413) 787-6173
From: Springfield Public Schools
Dear Erin Stewart:
In regards to the Public Records Request received on 2/22/2023 requesting records, the records have been in "Requested Clarification" status for 5 days. The City of Springfield will wait for another 5 days to hear a response. If in 10 total days the City of Springfield has not received your response the request will be withdrawn and closed. Thank you for using the Public Records Center. Request Details:
Reference # R007462-022223
Description of Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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
From: Erin Stewart
Hi Justin:
Thanks for your message. We are happy to accept responses in the format you included. Let me know what the fee estimate is and we can discuss.
Best,
Erin
From: Springfield Public Schools
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of March 3, 2023, Reference #R007462-022223
Dear Erin Stewart:
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for:
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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 G. L. 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).
. 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 G.L. 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 C.M.R. 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.”
t 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 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.
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. If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-338-1050 or by email at Erinstewart@cfjj.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
In response to items numbered one (1) and seven (7) the City's good faith cost estimate to reproduce the records you have requested is $ 187.50. This total is based on the time it will take to search, compile, segregate, and redact the records at the highest hourly rate allowed by law for a municipality, estimated to be 9.5 hours at $25 per hour. Per state law, the first two hours are free. Therefore the total is based off of 7.5 hours. Accordingly, please find attached the City of Springfield’s good faith cost estimate.
In order for the City to provide a response to item number one (1), the Springfield Police Department’s Keeper of Records will create a document by conducting a separate search of each school by year to gather records involving juveniles. A secondary search will then need to be conducted according to each race code and then again by gender. In response to item number seven (7), the Emergency Dispatch Department’s Sr. QA/QI Analyst will have to conduct an electronic search for multiple years of 911 records. All responsive records will need to be reviewed and redacted by the Public Records Coordinator and approved for release by the 2 nd Associate City Solicitor.
Since the total cost to comply with your public records request exceeds Ten Dollars ($10.00), you must pay the above-estimated fee in full prior to the reproduction of the documents. Payment must be made by certified check, payable to the “City of Springfield”, in the full amount of the good faith fee estimated above. Please mail a check or money order in the full amount made payable to the “ City of Springfield”, to: City of Springfield Law Department
Public Records Division
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103 Please advise this office if you accept the estimated cost to produce the records, or if you wish to modify your request. If the City does not receive a response within ten [10] business days after the date this letter is sent, your request will be deemed withdrawn.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and G.L. c. 66, §10(b). You also have the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision by commencing a civil action in the Superior Court under M.G.L. Chapter 66, Section 10A(c).
Please contact the Public Records Division by responding to this email or by phone at (413) 787-6085 with any questions. Please reference Public Records Request #R007462-022223 in all correspondence regarding this request.
Sincerely,
Public Records Division
From: Springfield Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of March 3, 2023, Reference #R007462-022223
Dear Erin Stewart:
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for:
To Whom It May Concern:
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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 G. L. 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).
. 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 G.L. 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 C.M.R. 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.”
t 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 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.
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. If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-338-1050 or by email at Erinstewart@cfjj.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
In response to items numbered one (1) and seven (7) the City's good faith cost estimate to reproduce the records you have requested is $ 187.50. This total is based on the time it will take to search, compile, segregate, and redact the records at the highest hourly rate allowed by law for a municipality, estimated to be 9.5 hours at $25 per hour. Per state law, the first two hours are free. Therefore the total is based off of 7.5 hours. Accordingly, please find attached the City of Springfield’s good faith cost estimate.
In order for the City to provide a response to item number one (1), the Springfield Police Department’s Keeper of Records will create a document by conducting a separate search of each school by year to gather records involving juveniles. A secondary search will then need to be conducted according to each race code and then again by gender. In response to item number seven (7), the Emergency Dispatch Department’s Sr. QA/QI Analyst will have to conduct an electronic search for multiple years of 911 records. All responsive records will need to be reviewed and redacted by the Public Records Coordinator and approved for release by the 2 nd Associate City Solicitor.
Since the total cost to comply with your public records request exceeds Ten Dollars ($10.00), you must pay the above-estimated fee in full prior to the reproduction of the documents. Payment must be made by certified check, payable to the “City of Springfield”, in the full amount of the good faith fee estimated above. Please mail a check or money order in the full amount made payable to the “ City of Springfield”, to: City of Springfield Law Department
Public Records Division
36 Court Street, Room 210
Springfield, MA 01103 Please advise this office if you accept the estimated cost to produce the records, or if you wish to modify your request. If the City does not receive a response within ten [10] business days after the date this letter is sent, your request will be deemed withdrawn.
Should you be aggrieved by this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records in the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office pursuant to 950 CMR 32.00 and G.L. c. 66, §10(b). You also have the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision by commencing a civil action in the Superior Court under M.G.L. Chapter 66, Section 10A(c).
Please contact the Public Records Division by responding to this email or by phone at (413) 787-6085 with any questions. Please reference Public Records Request #R007462-022223 in all correspondence regarding this request.
Sincerely,
Public Records Division
From: Springfield Public Schools
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of February 22, 2023, Reference # R007462-022223
Dear Erin Stewart,
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for “ To Whom It May Concern:”
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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 G. L. 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 G.L. 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 C.M.R. 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 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.
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. If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-338-1050 or by email at Erinstewart@cfjj.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Personnel at the Springfield Public School Department have submitted a record in response to item 6. Please log in to the Public Records Center at the following link to retrieve the responsive documents: Public Records Request - # R007462-022223.
From: Springfield Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of February 22, 2023, Reference # R007462-022223
Dear Erin Stewart,
This email is in response to your public records request to the City of Springfield for “ To Whom It May Concern:”
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. 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 U.S. 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 G. L. 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 G.L. 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 C.M.R. 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 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.
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. If you have any questions about this request, or need additional time to respond, please contact me by phone at (617)-338-1050 or by email at Erinstewart@cfjj.org. Thank you in advance for your prompt response to this request.
Sincerely,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Personnel at the Springfield Public School Department have submitted a record in response to item 6. Please log in to the Public Records Center at the following link to retrieve the responsive documents: Public Records Request - # R007462-022223.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Feb. 22, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #R007462-022223.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
Files
pages