Communications with School districts about potential mergers or sending/receiving relationships
Dear Interlaken Borough,
Attn Frank Gripp III, BA
Copies of all communications with other school districts concerning possible mergers or sending/receiving relationships for Interlaken students up though grade 8. Communications include paper, electronic such a as email and text messages and any logs or notes about these phone calls during 2023-2024. Communications by either Interlaken School districts employees or School Board members
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
john clark
John - I just left you a voicemail. Please call me to discuss.
732-747-0324
Thanks,
Frank
Business Administrator
Interlaken Board of Education
100 Grassmere Ave.
Interlaken, NJ 07712
John, it was nice speaking with you earlier today and I am glad I could
provide some clarity. Pursuant to our conversation, please see my
response below.
RE: OPRA Request dated November 8, 2024
Dear Mr. Clark:
As custodian of records for the Interlaken Board of Education (“Board”
and/or “District”), I am writing this letter in response to your request
for records pursuant to the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) submitted and
received via email on Friday, November 8, 2024.
More specifically, the Board’s response to your request is set forth
below:
“Copies of all communications with other school districts concerning
possible mergers or sending/receiving relationships for Interlaken
students up though grade 8. Communications include paper, electronic such
a as email and text messages and any logs or notes about these phone calls
during 2023-2024. Communications by either Interlaken School districts
employees or School Board members”.
This request is overly broad in that the request does not identify
specific records. A proper OPRA request must identify with reasonable
clarity by specifically describing those documents that are being sought.
See Gannett New Jersey Partners L.P. v. County of Middlesex, 379 N.J.
Super. 205, 211-12, 877 A.2d 330 (App. Div. 2005); New Jersey Builders
Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J. Super.
166, 178 (App. Div.), certify. Denied, 190 N.J. 394 (2007); Bent v.
Stafford Police Dep’t, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 40 (App. Div. 2005). Under
OPRA, one cannot submit “wholesale requests for general information to be
analyzed, collated and compiled by the responding government entity.” MAG
Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J.
Super. 534, 868 A.2d 1067 (App. Div. 2005). (The Court found a request
for “all books, records, [and] documents” related to a specific project to
be improper.)
Additionally, in accord with MAG, supra, and its progeny, in order to
specifically identify correspondence, OPRA requests must contain the
following characteristics: content and/or subject; specific date or range
of dates; and sender and/or recipient. See Elcavage v. West Milford Twp.
(Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-07 (April 2010); Armenti v. Robbinsville
Bd. of Educ. (Mercer), GRC Complaint No. 2009-154 (Interim Order dated May
24, 2011); Sandoval v. NJ State Parole Board, GRC Complaint No. 2006-167
(October 2008) and Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint No.
2007-151 (February 2009). Further, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, a
custodian is not required to fulfill a request for correspondence, mail,
email, text messages, etc. “if the request does not identify a specific
job title or accounts to be searched, a specific subject matter, and is
not confined to a reasonable time period”. Accordingly, as submitted, your
request does not include all of the required criteria, is invalid pursuant
to the OPRA, and is thus denied as overbroad.
Further, these records do not exist.
If you choose to submit a clarified request more specifically identifying
the records you are seeking, such as by including all of the required
criteria and naming the exact documents requested, we will review and
respond to same as a new OPRA request.
This correspondence and the foregoing information constitute the Board’s
full and complete response to your OPRA request and therefore, your OPRA
request is closed.
Thanks,
Frank
Business Administrator
Interlaken Board of Education
100 Grassmere Ave.
Interlaken, NJ 07712