Cape & Islands News

D-Y superintendent denies public records requests

Declines to provide information on discipline of students, teachers
Cape Cod Today appeals denials to supervisor of public records

The superintendent of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District, Carol A. Woodbury, has denied two public records requests concerning incidents that occurred this fall at D-Y schools.

In one incident, one or more students on the Nathaniel Wixon Middle School girls soccer team filled another teammate's bottle with toilet water.

In the other incident, three teachers kept students in their charge inside Mattacheese Middle School during a fire and a subsequent fire alarm.

Cape Cod Today filed both requests, both of which Woodbury denied.

Cape Cod Today has appealed her denials to the supervisor of public records at the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who has the power to overturn them.

In a letter last month to Woodbury, Cape Cod Today filed a request under Chapter 66, Section 10 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the state's public records law, seeking copies of all documents pertaining to the discipline of one or more students in connection with the water bottle incident.

In a separate letter last month to Woodbury, Cape Cod Today filed a request under Chapter 66, Section 10 of state law requesting copies of all documents pertaining to the discipline of the teachers who kept students inside during a Sept. 26 fire at Mattacheese Middle School.

Regarding the water bottle incident, the Wixon athletic director sent a letter home to students' parents about the school's response. School officials, however, declined to provide information about what if any discipline was meted out to those responsible for the toilet water in the bottle.

In her response to Cape Cod Today, Woodbury wrote, "Please be advised that any documents pertaining to the discipline of students, if such documents were to exist, may not be disclosed pursuant to the student record regulations.

"603 CMR 23.07(4) provides that, except for certain limited exceptions which are not applicable in this instance, no third party shall have access to information in or from a student record without the specific, informed consent of the eligible student or the parent.

"Student discipline records, to the extent they exist, are considered student records," she wrote. "In the absence of any specific, informed consent of the eligible student or parent, the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District cannot comply with your request."

As for the request on information about the disciplining of the teachers who kept students inside Mattacheese Middle School during a fire, Woodbury wrote that such documents, if they were to exist, "constitute personnel records and, therefore, are exempt from disclosure pursuant to [Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 4, Section 7, clause 26c.]

Consequently, the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District cannot comply with your request
In the Mattacheese case, the Yarmouth Fire Department identified staffers Sarah Wheaton, Linda Greene and John Tierney and said each were fined $100 for keeping students inside during the fire.