Three districts billed for the same request in the same week, at the same $75 an hour. One district answered the same request with records, and no bill at all.
Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District has told Parent Data Force that a single request for student settlement agreements will cost $27,550. That is the district’s own estimate, and it is the largest in the Massachusetts Student Settlement Records project — more than nine times the previous high of $2,950, which Dracut Public Schools proposed in September.
Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, responding to the same project, put its estimate at $925. Westfield Public Schools answered at $200. All three asked the Supervisor of Public Records for 30 additional business days, and all three asked the Supervisor to approve $75 an hour to review documents. In the same week, Northborough-Southborough Regional School District produced responsive records through a shared drive link and charged nothing.
Every figure below is the district’s own estimate. No district has been ruled on.
What Bridgewater-Raynham says it costs
The estimate covers a request Parent Data Force sent to Bridgewater-Raynham on Sept. 18, 2026, for student settlement and resolution agreements. The district says the search identified approximately 18,900 pages or documents as responsive.
The bill is built from two lines:
- 157 hours of search at $25 an hour, which the district values at $3,925.
- 313 hours of review at a requested $75 an hour, which the district values at $23,625.
The arithmetic is the district’s: $3,925 plus $23,625 is $27,550.
The review rate is the disputed part. $25 an hour is the statutory rate for search. The district is asking the Supervisor to approve $75 an hour for review, on the theory that the review work is attorney work.
In the same letter the district petitioned for 30 additional business days beyond the ten business days the law gives a public body to respond, stating that counsel cannot complete all of the district’s clients within ten business days.
Parent Data Force filed an opposition to the fee estimate and an appeal under G.L. c. 66, § 10A the same day, denying the $75 rate and opposing the extension.
Whitman-Hanson: $925 for about fourteen documents
Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, asked the same question on Sept. 20, 2026, answered on two occasions the same day with a $925 estimate covering approximately fourteen documents.
The structure is the same as Bridgewater-Raynham’s, at a much smaller scale:
- Four billable hours of search at $25, which the district values at $100.
- Eleven hours of review at a requested $75 an hour, which the district values at $825.
The district also petitioned for 30 additional business days, on the same shared-counsel rationale. It told the Supervisor that its counsel’s own hourly rate is in or around $270.
The pattern three districts describe
Three districts — Bridgewater-Raynham, Whitman-Hanson and Westfield — now describe the same structure in their responses.
- A $25 statutory search rate applied below the district’s own stated floor. Each district tells the Supervisor that its attorney bills far more than $25 an hour.
- A $75 review rate resting on attorney work. Each asks the Supervisor to approve $75 an hour for the review component.
- An extension justified by counsel’s other clients. Each petitions for 30 additional business days and cites the same constraint.
Each element here belongs to the district that described it. This is not a claim that the districts are coordinating, and it is not a claim that any of these fees is unlawful. It is a description of what three separate districts told the Supervisor they need, in the same week, for the same kind of request. Whether any of it is right is a question for the Supervisor, and none of it has been decided.
Northborough-Southborough produced, and billed nothing
Northborough-Southborough Regional School District, asked on Sept. 18, 2026, did something no other district in the project has done: it produced.
Its Records Access Officer acknowledged receipt of the request on Sept. 22 and provided responsive records through a Google Drive folder link labeled for legal agreements. The district attached no fee estimate and did not ask for an extension.
That is the comparator that makes the fee estimates legible. The same request, in the same week, from the same project, produced records at no charge and no additional time in one district and a $27,550 invoice in another.
Elsewhere in the project
Medway Public Schools responded through its Director of Finance and Operations, acting as Records Access Officer, and reported that its search compiled 14 records totaling 90 pages. The district said it would provide redacted records as soon as possible and no later than the date stated in its letter — up to 25 business days from receipt. It attached no fee estimate.
Gloucester Public Schools received notice through its NextRequest portal that it needs a 10-business-day extension to complete request #26-683.
Holbrook Public Schools confirmed that its attorney verified there are no missing pages for the settlement agreement document whose second page had been marked “Page 2 of 3.”
Watertown Public Schools transmitted a further batch of numbered settlement agreements by email, continuing the sequence through at least agreement 59.
All of this is recorded in the Massachusetts Student Settlement Records tracker, which lists 65 districts, their current status, and the documents each has produced. Districts that have not yet answered can be requested through the project index.
Earlier fee dispatches in this project include East Bridgewater’s $350 Fee and 30-Day Extension Are Now Under Appeal and Two Districts, One Petition: East Bridgewater and Natick Ask for 30 More Days in the Same Words.
Sources
- Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, fee estimate and petition for additional time in response to the Student Settlement Records request, Sept. 18, 2026 request; Parent Data Force opposition and G.L. c. 66, § 10A appeal filed Oct. 2, 2026.
- Whitman-Hanson Regional School District, fee estimate and petition for additional time, and counsel’s statement of hourly rate, in response to the Sept. 20, 2026 request; confirmed in a second letter the same day.
- Westfield Public Schools, fee estimate of $200 with itemized search and review hours, appealed under SPR26/4117 with determination due Oct. 14, 2026, and a time petition under SPR26/4111.
- Northborough-Southborough Regional School District, Records Access Officer acknowledgment of receipt dated Sept. 22, 2026 and production via Google Drive folder, received Oct. 2, 2026.
- Medway Public Schools, response from the Director of Finance and Operations as Records Access Officer reporting 14 records and 90 pages, with a stated production deadline of up to 25 business days from receipt.
- Gloucester Public Schools, NextRequest portal notice of a 10-business-day extension for request #26-683.
- Holbrook Public Schools, Co-Records Access Officer confirmation that the district attorney verified no missing pages, Oct. 2, 2026.
- Watertown Public Schools, further email production of numbered settlement agreements continuing the sequence through at least agreement 59.
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