Received

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Dear Ms. Bloom,

The District is in receipt of your request for records under the Open Public Records Act. Specifically, your request sought:

1. Email(s) from November 2021 that confirm Chari Chanely's enrollment in a mentorship program, per the terms of her provisional license.
2. Memorandum of Agreement between Chari Chanley and NJASA for Chanley's enrollment in the State Approved Residency Program (SARP)
3. Copies of any payments/reimbursements made to Chari Chanley and/or the mentor and/or SARP and/or NJASA for the mentoring program.

Request No. 1: Your request requires further clarification, as the District is unable to identify the government record that you are seeking. A proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired. See Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). In particular, OPRA “is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information. Rather, OPRA simply operates to make identifiable government records ‘readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination.’ N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.” MAG Entm't, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 543 (App. Div. 2005). The Government Records Council further has established specific criteria that must be met for a requestor to identify specific government communications. The GRC determined that to be valid, the request must contain: (1) the content and/or subject of the communication, (2) the specific date or range of dates during which the communications were transmitted, and (3) the identity of the sender and/or the recipient thereof. Elcavage v. West Milford Twp., GRC Complaint No. 2009-07 (April 2010); Caggiano v. NJ Office of the Governor, Complaint No. 2014-263 (March 2015). Your request fails to identify a specific government record as it would require the records custodian to siphon through all of its email communication over a 8 month period and make a discretionary determination on whether the communication confirms an employees enrollment in a mentorship program. Your request further fails to identify a government record as it fails to identify the identify of the sender/recipient. Finally, please be advised that any potentially responsive records may be protected under OPRA’s personnel records exception. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 (stating that with limited exceptions, “the personnel or pension records of any individual in the possession of a public agency … shall not be considered a government record and shall not be made available for public access.”

Request No. 2: The District has no records responsive to this request. See Klock v. Newark Public Schools, GRC Complaint No. 2013-242 (July 2014) (Finding that Custodian properly denied a request where there were no responsive documents); Pusterhofer v. N.J. Dep’t of Education, GRC Complaint No. 2005-49 (July 2005) ("The Custodian has certified that the requested record does not exist. Therefore, the requested record cannot be released and there was no unlawful denial of access").

Request No. 3: Your request requires further clarification, as the District is unable to identify the government record that you are seeking. A proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired. See Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). In particular, OPRA “is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information. Rather, OPRA simply operates to make identifiable government records ‘readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination.’ N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.” MAG Entm't, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 543 (App. Div. 2005). Your request fails to provide a date range for the records that you are seeking. As a result, it fails to identify a specific government record.

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