Good morning,
I am the custodian of records for Ridgefield Board of Education.  This
email is to confirm receipt of your OPRA request. 
Thank you,
--

Julyana Ortiz

Business Administrator

Ridgefield Public Schools

555 Chestnut Street, Ridgefield, NJ 07657

Phone: 201-945-7747

Fax: 201-313-4582

This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
may contain certain confidential and privileged information. Any
unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by e-mail and
destroy all copies of the original message.     

Dear Anonymous:

The Ridgefield School District (“District”) Records Custodian received
your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request on March 11, 2019.  The
seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request is March 20,
2019.  As such, the District is timely responding to your request in
accordance with New Jersey law. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.

For ease of reference, we note that your OPRA request seeks the following
records:

Resume for acting Superintendent, John Petrelli, and any past or prior
complaints of harassment or disrespect to parents, employees, or women in
general. I would also be interested in any police records, or misconduct
issues associated with Mr. Petrelli.

Attached please find all records readily identified as responsive to your
request for John Petrelli’s resume. Please be advised that redactions have
been made to remove Mr. Petrelli’s personal home address pursuant to
OPRA’s privacy provisions. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 provides 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.” Personal cell phone numbers and home addresses may be redacted
from government records in order to protect a citizen’s privacy interest.
See Flora v. Ocean County Health Dept., GRC Complaint No. 2013-188 (Feb.
2015); Merino v. Borough of Ho-Ho-Kus, GRC Complaint No. 2003-110 (2003).

With respect to your request for any prior complaints of complaints of
harassment or disrespect to parents, employees, or women in general,
including any police records, all records identified as potentially
responsive to your request are shielded from disclosure pursuant to OPRA’s
personnel records exemption. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10. OPRA provides that the
only portions of an employee’s personnel record that must be provided are
“an individual’s name, title, position, salary, payroll record, length of
service, date of separation and the reason therefor, and the amount and
type of any pension received.” See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10. Accordingly,
documents pertaining to employee grievances or alleged misconduct are
shielded from disclosure. See also Fenichel v. City of Ocean City (Cape
May), GRC Complaint No. 2009-71 (holding that records involving matters
concerning an employee’s alleged misconduct and/or disciplinary matters
are exempt from disclosure as personnel records pursuant to N.J.S.A.
47:1A-10). 

Your OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed. Thank you for your
attention to this matter.

Very truly yours,

--

Julyana Ortiz

Business Administrator

Ridgefield Public Schools

555 Chestnut Street, Ridgefield, NJ 07657

Phone: 201-945-7747

Fax: 201-313-4582

This e-mail message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and
may contain certain confidential and privileged information. Any
unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you
are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by e-mail and
destroy all copies of the original message.