Response from the state regarding Belmont and Goddard

I received the following cover letter from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education this afternoon:

Dear Ms. O'Connell Novick:

On February 7, 2011, I received your public records request that seeks "documents from the investigation of the 2010 MCAS testing anomalies at the Goddard School of Science and Technology and Belmont Community School in Worcester." Enclosed, please find a CD-ROM containing all public records responsive to your request.

As you will see, we have redacted or withheld information that is exempt from the public records law under G.L. c.4 7 cl.26 (invasion of personal privacy); G.L. c.4 7 cl.26(d) (development of policy positions); G.L. c.4 7 cl.26(f) (investigatory material); and based upon the attorney-client privilege. To be clear, the information redacted pursuant to the deliberative process exemption, exemption (d), concerns an unrelated school in a different school district in a matter wholly unrelated to Goddard or Belmont. References to this other matter--which has not yet been resolved--have been redacted to the extent that they appear in documents that also contain information about Goddard or Belmont.

Please contact me if you require further assistance or any additional information. Additionally, please be advised that if you wish to challenge this response, you may appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records following the procedure containted in 950 C.M.R. 32.08.

Sincerely,

Joshua Varon

Legal Council

I will post once I've gotten the CD-ROM in the mail.