Wakefield Teachers Ass'n v. School Committee

716 N.E.2d 121, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 704, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 1017
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedSeptember 10, 1999
DocketNo. 98-P-104
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 716 N.E.2d 121 (Wakefield Teachers Ass'n v. School Committee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wakefield Teachers Ass'n v. School Committee, 716 N.E.2d 121, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 704, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 1017 (Mass. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Gillerman, J.

The plaintiff, whose standing to bring this action is not challenged, appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court, which held that the disciplinary decision and report of the superintendent of the town of Wakefield public schools regarding the performance of a teacher is a public rec[705]*705ord under the provisions of G. L. c. 4, § 7, Twenty-sixth (c), and therefore subject to mandatory disclosure under G. L. c. 66, § 10.

The case was tried on an agreed statement of facts, which we summarize.

On March 17, 1995, the defendant Holmes signed a report summarizing his investigation of allegations that a male teacher at Wakefield Junior High School had sent “inappropriate notes” to one of his female students. Attached to the report were copies of the underlying documents that passed between the student and the teacher. The investigation involved the examination of the teacher’s “notes,” interviews with at least six persons, including an extensive interview with the teacher who was accompanied by two union representatives.

On March 17, the teacher, who had read the report, told Holmes that “he did not dispute the material facts set forth in the report.” Holmes then gave the teacher written notice of his suspension for four weeks.2

On or about April 3, 1995, Holmes received a letter from a resident of Wakefield requesting “any information that you or the School Committee have regarding the suspension of a teacher at the Junior High School.” The author wrote that he was “not interested in either the teacher[’]s name or the student[’]s name, but rather the nature of the offense for which he [had been] suspended.” The writer concluded by stating that the issue needs to be resolved quickly “for the sake of our children[’]s safety and the parents[’] concerns.”

Holmes responded on April 7. He wrote that he was “trying to walk that narrow line between my responsibility to the individuals involved and the public’s right to know.” Holmes then summarized the matter: the teacher claimed that the notes were only a joke intended to provide positive reinforcement, but that Holmes judged them to be more serious and “clearly crossed over the line of responsibility a teacher has to a student.” Holmes added, “I have every confidence that this teacher is no danger to these children or any other children and should, upon completion of his suspension, return to his teach[706]*706ing position in the district without further sanction.”3 Finally, Holmes wrote that because of several points raised in the letter of April 3, he had asked for further direction from the supervisor of public records.

The acting supervisor of public records responded on May 3, 1995. In a comprehensive ten-page letter, she concluded that the disclosure of the report was mandated by G. L. c. 66, § 10, except that the names and identifying writings of the students could be redacted.

Finally, the agreed statement of facts revealed that, in addition to the letter of inquiry dated April 3, 1995, there had been several requests “from reporters and others seeking information about the teacher’s case.” The agreed statement did not disclose whether these additional inquiries sought the identity of the teacher.

On these stipulated facts, the judge in the Superior Court ruled that the Holmes report, including attachments, was a public record requiring disclosure with the exception of writings identifying the students. The judge also entered an injunction restraining the defendants from disclosing the report pending the outcome of appeals.

The first appeal to this court resulted in an order pursuant to Rule 1:28. A panel of this court remanded the case to the Superior Court “for an in camera inspection” of the Holmes report by the Superior Court judge. See 41 Mass. App. Ct. 1102 (1996).

In his opinion after remand, the Superior Court judge again ruled that disclosure was required, except for the redaction of names and other identifying writings of the students. The judge also continued the injunction restraining disclosure pending the outcome of an appeal.

Discussion. The plaintiff argues that the Holmes report is exempt from disclosure under G. L. c. 4, § 7, Twenty-sixth (c), the first clause of which provides that documents of any sort which are “personnel and medical files or information” need [707]*707not be disclosed.4

The leading case regarding the. first clause of subparagraph (c) is Globe Newspaper Co. v. Boston Retirement Bd., 388 Mass. 427 (1983). There the court said, “the Globe’s argument gives too broad a meaning to the words ‘personnel and medical files or information.’ Not every bit of information which might be found in a personnel or medical file is necessarily personal so as to fall within the exemption’s protection. . . . The Legislature’s choice of words was intended to ensure that the scope of the exemption turn on the character of the information sought rather than on the question whether the documents containing the information constituted a file.” Id. at 435.5

The question, then, is whether the Holmes report was sufficiently “personal” to fall within the exemption. While we are aware of no appellate opinion in Massachusetts involving the applicability of subparagraph (c) to a teacher discipline report, the authorities nevertheless point in the direction of the unavailability of the exemption.

The “kind of private facts that the Legislature intended to exempt from mandatory disclosure” under subparagraph (c) are “ ‘intimate details’ of a ‘highly personal’ nature.” Brogan v. School Comm, of Westport, 401 Mass. 306, 308 (1987), quoting from Hastings & Sons Publishing Co. v. City Treasurer of Lynn, 374 Mass. 812, 818 (1978). In Brogan, the documents for which an exemption was claimed were school committee records of employee absenteeism. The court held that while the release of such records had the “potential to embarrass its subjects,” the records were not protected by the exemption because they were not “of a personal nature.” Id. at 309. Contrast Globe Newspaper Co. v. Boston Retirement Bd., 388 Mass, at 430, where the records at issue were “the medical reason given by each employee in applying and receiving his disability pen[708]*708sion.” The court held that an individual’s medical condition is inherently “of a personal nature.” Brogan, supra (summarizing Globe Newspaper Co.).

As to the facts of this case, it cannot be said, in our view, that the performance of a teacher’s duties in his contacts with his students are “intimate details” regarding the teacher’s “highly personal” affairs. “Teachers hold a position of special public trust because ‘[a]s role models for our children they have an “extensive and peculiar opportunity to impress [their] attitude and views” upon their pupils.’ ” Perryman v. School Comm, of Boston, 17 Mass. App. Ct. 346, 349 (1983), quoting from Dupree v. School Comm, of Boston, 15 Mass. App. Ct. 535, 538 (1983), and Faxon v. School Comm, of Boston, 331 Mass. 531, 534 (1954). A violation of that trust is not a personal affair. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D comment d (1977): “The common law has long recognized that the public has a proper interest in learning about . . . matters ...

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716 N.E.2d 121, 47 Mass. App. Ct. 704, 1999 Mass. App. LEXIS 1017, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wakefield-teachers-assn-v-school-committee-massappct-1999.