Emails Electronic Copy
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:electronic copies of all emails that meet the following criteria
1) Mailbox - [email address]
subject (multiple emails with this subject) : “Draft Letter to the Board”
date range from 8/15/2020 to 8/31/2020
2) Mailbox - [email address]
TimeStamp - 8/28/2020.
Email sent to Board Trustee Brogan’s private email account
Subject: You are…
3. Date Range - 11/1/2020 to 11/07/2020
Subject Contains words => Chad-resume May 2020
4. Mailbox: [email address]
Date- 11/1/2020
Subject (multiple emails with this subject)- “What happened?”
5. Mailbox - [email address]
Date - 10/26/2020
Subject: Dan
6. Mailbox: [email address]
Date: 10/20/2020
Subject: Wrestling coach
7. Mailbox: [email address]
Date range: 10/12/2020
Three emails from Chris Kaufman personal email account regarding wrestling coach. Subjects are “Wrestling coach”, “Chad-resume May 2020.pdf” and “Mike Massenzlo Resume”
8. Mailbox: [email address]
Date Range: 2020-08-06 to 2020-08-10
Subject (multiple emails on this subject): “checking on list”
Yours faithfully,
Anonymous
Dear Sir or Madam,
This correspondence is being sent in response to the Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request you submitted to the Ridgewood Public Schools. As the official Records Custodian, I received this request on June 4, 2021. As such, the seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request is June 15, 2021. I will be sending a response to your request within this deadline.
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the seven business days required by law, you have a right to challenge the Board’s decision to deny access. At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the Superior Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the GRC by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at (866)-850-0511, by mail at P.O. Box 819, Trenton, New Jersey, 08625, by e-mail at [email address], or at their website at www.state.nj.us/grc. The Council can also answer other questions about the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.
Scott T. Bisig, M.Ed.
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Ridgewood Public Schools
June 15, 2021
Dear Sir or Madam:
The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request on June 4, 2021. The seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request June 15, 2021. As such, the District is timely responding to your OPRA request in accordance with New Jersey law.
Your request is shown below:
Mailbox - [email address], subject (multiple emails with this subject) : “Draft Letter to the Board”, date range from 8/15/2020 to 8/31/2020;
Mailbox - [email address], TimeStamp - 8/28/2020., Email sent to Board Trustee Brogan’s private email account, Subject: You are…;
Date Range - 11/1/2020 to 11/07/2020, Subject Contains words => Chad-resume May 2020;
Mailbox: [email address], Date- 11/1/2020, Subject (multiple emails with this subject)- “What happened?”;
Mailbox - [email address], Date - 10/26/2020, Subject: Dan;
Mailbox: [email address], Date: 10/20/2020, Subject: Wrestling coach;
Mailbox: [email address], Date range: 10/12/2020, Three emails from Chris Kaufman personal email account regarding wrestling coach. Subjects are “Wrestling coach”, “Chad-resume May 2020.pdf” and “Mike Massenzlo Resume”;
Mailbox: [email address], Date Range: 2020-08-06 to 2020-08-10, Subject (multiple emails on this subject): “checking on list”
The District requires additional time to compile, review, and redact (if necessary) the documents that may be responsive to your request. The District anticipates finalizing your request by June 22, 2021. The District also reserves the right to request an additional extension of time, if necessary. See Scheeler v. New Jersey Department of Educ., GRC Complaint No. 2014-123 (2016).
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Very truly yours,
Scott Bisig
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Dear Sir or Madame:
The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request on June 4, 2021. On June 14, 2021, the District requested an extension until June 22, 2021. As such, the District is timely responding to your OPRA request in accordance with New Jersey law.
Your request is shown below:
1. Mailbox - [email address], subject (multiple emails with this subject) : “Draft Letter to the Board”, date range from 8/15/2020 to 8/31/2020;
2. Mailbox - [email address], TimeStamp - 8/28/2020., Email sent to Board Trustee Brogan’s private email account, Subject: You are…;
3. Date Range - 11/1/2020 to 11/07/2020, Subject Contains words => Chad-resume May 2020;
4. Mailbox: [email address], Date- 11/1/2020, Subject (multiple emails with this subject)- “What happened?”;
5. Mailbox - [email address], Date - 10/26/2020, Subject: Dan;
6. Mailbox: [email address], Date: 10/20/2020, Subject: Wrestling coach;
7. Mailbox: [email address], Date range: 10/12/2020, Three emails from Chris Kaufman personal email account regarding wrestling coach. Subjects are “Wrestling coach”, “Chad-resume May 2020.pdf” and “Mike Massenzlo Resume”;
8. Mailbox: [email address], Date Range: 2020-08-06 to 2020-08-10, Subject (multiple emails on this subject): “checking on list”
The District has identified twenty-seven (27) pages of records responsive to your request. Please note that redactions have been made throughout the records to remove personal email addresses pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 (providing that “a public agency has a responsibility and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizen’s personal information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would violate the citizen’s reasonable expectation of privacy”).
Additionally, please be advised that RIDGEWOOD BOE OPRA 20-27, email correspondence from Sheila Brogan to Daniel Fishbein dated August 16, 2020 regarding Draft Letter for the Board, has been withheld pursuant to the “deliberative process privilege. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1, exempting intra-agency, advisory, consultative, or deliberative material from the definition of a “government record”. The correspondence at issue is pre-decisional and deliberative in nature. See Educ. Law Ctr. v. N.J. Dep’t of Educ., 198 N.J. 274, 286 (2009); In the Matter of the Liquidation of Integrity Ins. Co., 165 N.J. 75, 88 (2000).
Please find your results in the dropbox link below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdcs1x6rcspbqj...
Your OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Scott Bisig
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Dear Ridgewood Public School District,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ridgewood Public School District's handling of my OPRA request 'Emails Electronic Copy'.
Emails between Dan Fishbein and Sheila Brogan were denied. The reason provided was " email correspondence from Sheila Brogan to Daniel Fishbein regarding Draft Letter for the Board, has been withheld pursuant to the “deliberative process privilege."
My OPRA attorney has advised that you may redact part of the letter but not withheld the entire letter. You can not withheld the fact that Sheila Brogan and Dan Fishbein were communicating regarding this draft letter and were working collectively to draft it. This correspondence was conducted using private email address of Sheila Brogan and not a board member's official board business. Other board members were not part of this communication. Please provide this information to the person who conducts internal review of OPRA matters and please provide a copy of the emails requested in my original OPRA request. I understand that you may redact some lines from the draft letter, but you can not redact the header information and the communication between superintendent and private email account of Sheila Brogan.
If denied again, I fully intend to file a complaint.
A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/emails_e...
Yours faithfully,
Anonymous
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please be advised that your request is currently under review and we anticipate that a response will be sent out within a few days.
Sincerely,
Scott T. Bisig
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
July 2, 2021
Dear Sir/Madam:
The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request and obtained an extension of time to respond until July 2, 2021. As such, the District is timely responding to your OPRA request in accordance with New Jersey law.
Your OPRA request seeks the following records:
Email server logs (all header information, not the actual body text) for
Criteria 1 - keyword= [email address]
Criteria 2 - for the date range Jan 1, 2021 to June 15, 2021
Criteria 3 - The keywords may appear in any field, i.e. to, cc, bcc, subject, from, sender, or body of the message. Either / Or keyword (i.e. if any of the keywords is present, please provide the header / email log).
The District specifically reserved the right to request an additional extension. In light of the voluminous nature of your request, the District anticipates requiring an additional week (until July 9, 2021) to compile, review, and redact (if necessary) the documents that may be responsive to your request. The District also reserves the right to request an additional extension of time, if necessary. See Scheeler v. New Jersey Department of Educ., GRC Complaint No. 2014-123 (2016).
Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Very truly yours,
Scott Bisig
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Dear Ridgewood Public School District,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ridgewood Public School District's handling of my OPRA request 'Emails Electronic Copy'.
Please review governors latest directive on OPRA delays. This request was for a keyword search, which should not have taken more than 5 minutes to perform a search on google account.
I am requesting an internal review of the OPRA delays by the agency.
A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/emails_e...
Yours faithfully,
Anonymous
July 2, 2021
Dear Sir/Madam:
On June 28, 2021, the Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your request for an internal review of the response to your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request initially received on June 4, 2021. On July 2, 2021, you were sent a request for an extension in error. Please disregard that correspondence.
Your original request is shown below:
1. Mailbox - [email address], subject (multiple emails with this subject) : “Draft Letter to the Board”, date range from 8/15/2020 to 8/31/2020;
2. Mailbox - [email address], TimeStamp - 8/28/2020., Email sent to Board Trustee Brogan’s private email account, Subject: You are…;
3. Date Range - 11/1/2020 to 11/07/2020, Subject Contains words => Chad-resume May 2020;
4. Mailbox: [email address], Date- 11/1/2020, Subject (multiple emails with this subject)- “What happened?”;
5. Mailbox - [email address], Date - 10/26/2020, Subject: Dan;
6. Mailbox: [email address], Date: 10/20/2020, Subject: Wrestling coach;
7. Mailbox: [email address], Date range: 10/12/2020, Three emails from Chris Kaufman personal email account regarding wrestling coach. Subjects are “Wrestling coach”, “Chad-resume May 2020.pdf” and “Mike Massenzlo Resume”;
8. Mailbox: [email address], Date Range: 2020-08-06 to 2020-08-10, Subject (multiple emails on this subject): “checking on list”
On June 22, 2021, you were provided with nineteen (19) pages of records responsive to your request. Attached please find RIDGEWOOD BOE OPRA 20-27, email correspondence from Sheila Brogan to Dr. Daniel Fishbein, dated August 16, 2020, regarding Draft Letter for the Board. Please note that the e-mail correspondence between Sheila Brogan and Dr. Daniel Fishbein has been provided, but as stated in the District’s June 22, 2021 correspondence, the draft letter is exempt from disclosure pursuant to the deliberative process privilege. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1, exempting intra-agency, advisory, consultative, or deliberative material from the definition of a “government record.” See Educ. Law Ctr. v. N.J. Dep’t of Educ., 198 N.J. 274, 286 (2009); In the Matter of the Liquidation of Integrity Ins. Co., 165 N.J. 75, 88 (2000). The Government Records Council has held that draft records of a public agency fall within the deliberative process privilege. See Anonymous Complainant v. Ocean City Historic Preservation Commission (Cape May), GRC Complaint No. 2012-121 (June 2015).
Note that OPRA broadly defines what constitutes a government record. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1. The definition does not restrict itself to only those documents created on a District-owned or controlled email account or computer. Instead, any record which “has been made, maintained or kept on file in the course of official business” is a government record. Id. Thus, an email created by a member of the Board of Education in connection with his or her official business as a Board member is a public record whether the email communication is created on a District-owned computer or the Board member’s personal device.
Your OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Very truly yours,
Scott Bisig
Business Administrator/Board Secretary