Hi Anonymous,
The Ridgewood Public School District is in receipt of the OPRA request and
will respond by the required guidelines.
Scott T. Bisig

show quoted sections

January 17, 2023

Dear Sir or Madame,

The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) is responding to your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request. You have requested the following:

The following records are being provided in their entirety as required by law and are responsive to your request.

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:
Please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or be paid to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC for services in regard to L. W. vs. Ridgewood Board of Education (in the matter regarding the Infant Toddler Development Center) from July 23, 2021 through December 31, 2022.

Also, please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or to be paid to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC in regard to motions filed by the Infant Toddler Development Center Parent Group from December 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.

If any other legal counsel has given service in connection with the above referenced matters during the times indicated, please provide electronic copies of those invoices as well.

Please keep in mind that as per N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(e) "immediate access" must be granted to requests for bills. The Government Records Council describes "immediate access" as meaning "as immediately as possible - on the spot unless the records are in storage, in use, or require medium conversion." As such invoices are routinely submitted and kept in electronic form, there should be no such delays.

The matter that is the subject of this request has been resolved and therefore potential redactions of invoices, if any, would be extremely limited. Information that is considered as public, and therefore not protected, includes the names and contact information of school district administrators and other employees, as well as elected members of the Board of Education and those employed by the government and courts. Such information must not be redacted.

The information that you requested is contained in the Dropbox link below. This OPRA request is deemed closed.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/13b2drjvm...

If your request for access to a government record has been denied or unfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a right to challenge the decision by the [insert name of agency] 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 Government Records Council (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, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [email address], or at their website at www.state.nj.us/grc. The GRC 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.

Sincerely,

Scott T. Bisig, M.Ed.
Business Administrator
Ridgewood Public Schools

Dear Sir/Madam:

The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your
Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request seeking the following records:

Please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or be paid
to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC for services in regard to
L. W. vs. Ridgewood Board of Education (in the matter regarding the Infant
Toddler Development Center) from July 23, 2021, through December 31, 2022.

Also, please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or to
be paid to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC in regard to
motions filed by the Infant Toddler Development Center Parent Group from
December 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022. 

If any other legal counsel has given service in connection with the above
referenced matters during the times indicated, please provide electronic
copies of those invoices as well.

On the Dropbox link below please find 25 pages of invoices which the
District has identified as responsive to your request. Please be advised
that the District has made redactions to these invoices to remove
information protected by attorney-client privilege. OPRA specifically
provides that certain records are deemed to be confidential, and thus do
not fall into the definition of a “government record” under OPRA. This
includes any record within the attorney-client privilege. See N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1.1. OPRA further specifies that while attorney bills are not fully
exempt from public access, “such bills or invoices may be redacted to
remove any information protected by the attorney-client privilege.”
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-9.b. provides that the provisions of OPRA shall not
abrogate or erode any grant of confidentiality recognized by court rule. 

[1]https://www.dropbox.com/s/c1rjooq124c6ad...

Accordingly, the attached bills have been redacted to remove references to
specific topics of legal research, legal strategies, and
discussion/correspondence between the District’s legal counsel and the
District’s representatives to ensure that confidential communications in
the course of the lawyer-client relationship are not inadvertently
revealed. See, e.g., Scheeler v. Borough of West Cape May, GRC Complaint
No. 2014-143 (Nov. 2016).

Additionally, the District requires additional time to compile, review,
and redact (if necessary) the remaining records that may be responsive to
your request and anticipates finalizing your request by February 3, 2023.
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

--

Scott T. Bisig, M.Ed.

Business Administrator

Ridgewood Public Schools

201-670-2700 ext. 10503

[2]www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us

show quoted sections

NOTICE:

You are advised that e-mail correspondence and attachments between the public
and the Ridgewood Board of Education are obtainable by any person who files a
request under the NJ Open Public Records Act (OPRA) unless it is subject to a
specific OPRA exception.  You should have no expectation that the content of
e-mails sent to or from school district e-mail addresses, or between the public
and school district officials and employees, will remain private.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/c1rjooq124c6ad...
2. http://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/

Dear Sir/Madam:

The Ridgewood Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request. The District obtained an extension of time to respond to your request until February 3, 2023. As such, the District is timely responding to your request in accordance with New Jersey law.

Your OPRA request seeks the following records:

Please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or be paid to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC for services in regard to L. W. vs. Ridgewood Board of Education (in the matter regarding the Infant Toddler Development Center) from July 23, 2021 through December 31, 2022.

Also, please provide electronic copies of any and all invoices paid or to be paid to Cleary, Giacobbe, Alfieri & Jacobs, LLC in regard to motions filed by the Infant Toddler Development Center Parent Group from December 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022.
If any other legal counsel has given service in connection with the above referenced matters during the times indicated, please provide electronic copies of those invoices as well.

The District previously provided you 25 pages of responsive invoices. On the following dropbox link please find an additional 13 pages of records which the District has identified as responsive to your request. Please be advised that the District has made redactions to these invoices to remove information protected by attorney-client privilege. OPRA specifically provides that certain records are deemed to be confidential, and thus do not fall into the definition of a “government record” under OPRA. This includes any record within the attorney-client privilege. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1. OPRA further specifies that while attorney bills are not fully exempt from public access, “such bills or invoices may be redacted to remove any information protected by the attorney-client privilege.” N.J.S.A. 47:1A-9.b. provides that the provisions of OPRA shall not abrogate or erode any grant of confidentiality recognized by court rule. Accordingly, the attached bills have been redacted to remove references to specific topics of legal research, legal strategies, and discussion/correspondence between the District’s legal counsel and the District’s representatives to ensure that confidential communications in the course of the lawyer-client relationship are not inadvertently revealed. See, e.g., Scheeler v. Borough of West Cape May, GRC Complaint No. 2014-143 (Nov. 2016).
Additionally, please note that N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 exempts “information which is a communication between a public agency and its insurance carrier, administrative service organization or risk management office” from the definition of a “government record.”
Accordingly, the entries dated August 23, 2022 were redacted to remove the content of communications with the District’s insurance carrier.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vy7e5q31yc495d...

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