I received the email.

Carpe diem,

Dr. Marnie Hazelton

Superintendent of Schools

Linden Public Schools

2 East Gibbons Street

Linden, New Jersey 07036

Phone: 908 - 486 - 2800 ext. 8008

What we cannot imagine cannot come into being - bell hooks

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From: Worried AboutLinden
<[OPRA #34646 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 1:06 PM
To: Marnie Hazelton <[email address]>
Subject: OPRA request - Request for all email correspondence for quotes on
District Networking Services
 
Dear Linden Public Schools,

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 to and from vendors pertaining to obtaining quotes for
District Networking Services, as explained at the August 9, 2022 Board of
Education meeting.

Yours faithfully,

Worried AboutLinden

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Via E-Mail [[1][OPRA #34646 email]] 

Worried About Linden 

         Re:         OPRA/Common Law Request received August 10, 2022 

Dear Sir/Madam: 

The Linden Public Schools (“District”) records custodian received your
Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) and common law request on August 10,
2022.  The seven business day deadline to respond to your request is
August 19, 2022.  As such, the District is timely responding to your
request in accordance with New Jersey law.  

Your request seeks the following records: 

Any and all emails to and from vendors pertaining to obtaining quotes for
District Networking Services, as explained at the August 9, 2022 Board of
Education meeting. 

Please be advised that your request is legally deficient. Both New Jersey
courts and the GRC have upheld an established criteria deemed necessary to
specifically identify and facilitate a search for responsive e-mails and
other written communications.  See Armenti v. Robbinsville Bd. of Educ.,
GRC Complaint No. 2009-154 (Interim Order May 24, 2011); see alsoZahler v.
Ocean County College, GRC Complaint No. 2013-266 (Jan. 2016). 

In Elcavage v. West Milford Township, GRC Complaint No. 2009-07 and
2009-08 (April 2010), the GRC determined that in accordance with legal
precedent: “[I]n order to specifically identify an e-mail the OPRA request
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 e-mails were transmitted, and (3) identification of the sender and/or
the recipient thereof.”  Here, your request seeks e-mails involving any
vendors is invalid as it lacks specific senders/recipients and/or a date
range. In Coughlin v. Borough of High Bridge, GRC Complaint No. 2011-120
(Sept. 2012), the GRC held that a request identifying e-mails sent to or
from the Borough’s golf department failed OPRA’s specificity requirements,
explaining: 

In order for the Custodian to respond to this request, the Custodian would
be required to evaluate all e-mails in their database in order to
determine whether the named recipients of such communications were
employed in the golf department. Such a request is not feasible. Pursuant
to Elcavage and MAG, it is not the Custodian’s duty to discern which
e-mails in their database have been received by or sent to a golf
department employee. A search for the individual employees’ names and
related e-mail addresses would constitute research that is not the
statutory duty of a Custodian. 

See also Wolosky v. Township of Randolph, GRC Complaint No. 2010-244 (Feb.
2012) (“The request failed to name a specific identifiable sender and
recipient: the request seeks e-mails from and to a specific class of
employee (specifically, Morris County Municipal Clerks) and not
individually named senders and recipients.”) 

Here, your request for e-mail correspondence clearly does not satisfy
OPRA's specificity requirements and would require the District’s records
custodian to conduct research in order to respond to your request.  See
also Lagerkvist v. Office of Governor of State, 443 N.J. Super. 230, 237
(App. Div. 2015) (holding that OPRA does not convert a custodian into a
researcher, which would have been the effect of the request).  

Notwithstanding the invalidity of your request, in the interest of
transparency attached please find 22 pages which the District has
identified as potentially responsive to your request. Please be advised
that redactions have been made to remove cellular telephone numbers in
order to protect the individuals’ reasonable expectation of privacy.
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1. See also N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 (exempting “that portion of
any document which discloses the unlisted telephone number” from the
definition of a “government record”). 

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

Very truly yours, 

 
PAMELA B CAPORALE
Assistant Business Administrator
Linden Public Schools
phone: 908-486-2800 x 8030
fax: 908-486-8891
[2][email address]

[3]Linden Public Schools

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NOTICE: This email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use
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recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies
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