Conflict of Interest Emails
Dear Monroe Township School District (Middlesex),
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
Any and all emails as of April 27 written to/from Board Member Katie Fabiano and/or her husband, Brian Fabiano, to/from the Monroe Township Board of Education, Chrissy Skurbe, the NJSBA or its representative, and/or Vito Gagliardi/Porzio, Bromberg, and Newman, regarding any alleged conflict of interest with regard to the Superintendent search and/or evaluation, containg the key words "conflicted," "conflict of interest," "ethics," "violation" and "recuse."
Yours faithfully,
Judy Bloom
Dear Ms. Bloom,
The Board is in receipt of your Open Public Records Act ("OPRA") request. Your request requires additional time to respond due to personnel capacity matters and due to the significant demands placed on the District with regard to the exceptionally large number of OPRA requests the Board has received. OPRA allows custodians to seek extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i). Specifically, OPRA states that “the requestor shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.” Accordingly, your request requires an extension of time until July 6, 2022.
Dear Ms. Bloom:
The District received your OPRA request on June 6, 2022. The Custodian requested an extension until July 6, 2022 due to the District’s personnel capacity matters and due to the significant demands placed on the District with regard to the exceptionally large number of OPRA requests the Board has received. You have requested the following government records:
• Any and all emails as of April 27 written to/from Board Member Katie Fabiano and/or her husband, Brian Fabiano, to/from the Monroe Township Board of Education, Chrissy Skurbe, the NJSBA or its representative, and/or Vito Gagliardi/Porzio, Bromberg, and Newman, regarding any alleged conflict of interest with regard to the Superintendent search and/or evaluation, containg the key words "conflicted," "conflict of interest," "ethics," "violation" and "recuse."
Please be advised that your request is denied as being overbroad under OPRA’s requirements. See MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 NJ. Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005), Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005), New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J. Super. 166 (App. Div. 2007) and the Council’s decision in Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint No. 2007-151 (February 2009). Under the above decisions, in order to specifically identify an e-mail, OPRA requests must contain (1) the content and/or subject of the e-mail, (2) the specific date or range of dates during which the e-mail was transmitted or the emails were transmitted, and (3) a valid e-mail request must identify the sender and/or the recipient thereof.
A review of your request reveals that it does not comply with OPRA’s requirements as your request seeks emails “as of April 27” and does not provide the Custodian with a specific date or range of dates. Because your request does not meet the threshold requirements for a valid OPRA request, the Custodian has not reviewed any documents requested. As a result, the Custodian does not waive any other exceptions to disclosure under OPRA that might be applicable to your request in its current form.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Reeshemah Zielinski