VIA E-MAIL
Taxpayer
Re: OPRA Request
Dear Taxpayer:
The Middletown Township Public School District (“District”) records
custodian received your
Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request on October 23, 2023. As such, the
seven (7)
business day deadline to respond to your request is October 31, 2023. This
response is therefore
being timely submitted in accordance with New Jersey law. See N.J.S.A.
47:1A-5.
Your OPRA request seeks the following: “All email correspondence between
Bruce Padula and
Jacqueline Tobacco between 10/15/2023 -10/22/2023.”
Initially, please note that this request is overly broad. The GRC has
upheld 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 also Zahler v. Ocean Cty. College,
GRC Complaint No.
2013-266 (Jan. 2016); Elcavage v. West Milford Twp., GRC Complaint No.
2009-07 and 2009-
08 (April 2010).
In Elcavage v. West Milford Twp., 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 fails to
identify the “content and/or subject” of the emails sought. Thus, your
request for written
communications does not satisfy OPRA's specificity requirements. As a
result, this request has
failed to properly identify a government record.
Notwithstanding the invalidity of your request, the Custodian identified
the records responsive to
this request. However, these records are being withheld as communications
between members of
the Board and attorneys for the Board are attorney-client privileged and
not subject to disclosure.
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 removes any records that are attorney-client privileged
from the definition of
“government record.”
Your OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed. Thank you for your
attention to this
matter.
Amy Doherty

show quoted sections