Dear Mr. Lucey
This letter constitutes a request pursuant to the Public Records Act, G.L. c. 66 Sec 10, for public records. Please produce anonymized (no names or PII), exported student data with individual student scores on the following assessments: 1) Fall '22 and Winter '23 IXL overall scores, 2) Fall '22 and Winter '23 i-Ready percentiles, the 3-level placement, and scale score by domain for each student, and 3) the Spring '22 MCAS scale scores and SGPs. Please include the following demographic information to allow for thorough data analysis: School, grade, race, special education status, EL status, date of enrollment in MPS (for students with non-continuous enrollment, include the first enrollment date), AEAP program participation.
The IXL data should be in a spreadsheet (e.g. XLS, XLSX, Google Sheet, or substantially similar) where each row corresponds to one student. If it is easier for you to produce, feel free to place these exports on separate sheets as long as they can be joined based on an anonymized Student ID field. As this request involved a matter of public interest and not commercial purpose, I ask that all fees be waived pursuant to 950 CMR 32.07(2)(k). Please provide the records electronically and in the requested format amenable to data analysis.
Please see the attached response documents.
The District could potentially download additional demographic information, but given the small sample size, it cannot do so as that would identify students. In Champa v. Weston Public Schools, 473 Mass. 86 (2015), the Supreme Judicial Court held that a settlement agreement, between a public school district and the parents of a child who required special education services at an out-of-district private institution, was not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Law based upon Exemption (a) (which protects from disclosure records that are “… specifically or by necessary implication exempted from disclosure by statute,” MGL c. 4, §7(26)(a)).
The SJC in Champa relied upon state and federal regulations mandating confidentiality of student/education records; ruled that the settlement agreement was an education record; and likewise noted, in footnote 8 of its opinion, that the school district’s receipt of federal funds was conditioned on non-disclosure of education records. Accordingly, the settlement agreement was not a public record based upon Exemption (a). While Exemption (a) exempted the agreement from the definition of a public record, the Champa, court nonetheless ruled that the agreement should be redacted to protect personally identifying information; and that once redacted, the agreement shall be disclosed. The SJC likewise remanded the case to the trial court “… regarding the necessary and appropriate redactions of personally identifying information to be made …” 473 Mass. at 98-99.
Like the agreement at issue in Champa, the request for the demographic information will identify public school students who enjoy mandated confidentiality given the small sample size. As a result, these records should be deemed exempt from Public Records Law disclosure under Exemption (a) because, as supported by Champa, state and federal regulations compel the District to protect educational records from disclosure. Specifically, they are protected by the Federal Education Rights Privacy Act, Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 71, Section 34A to 34H, and 603 CMR 23.00 et. seq.
Request Date
2023-03-01
Agency Tracking
2023-0058
Acquisition Notes
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