Opinion ID: 461208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Private Paper v. Work Product

Text: 70 Because the majority grounds its decision that Alinovi's privacy claim fails on the reasons that I have previously discussed, they did not address what I believe to be the real issue in this case: Whether Alinovi submitted her private academic paper into the educational evaluation process when she gave it to Generelli at the meeting and thereby transformed it into a professional work product. 71 Clearly the school has a substantial interest in gathering the full panoply of information available on a student in order to implement the child's Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) pursuant to its responsibilities under Chapter 766, Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch. 71B (West 1982). The regulations for the implementation of Chapter 766 require that the Administrator of an evaluation team direct that assessments be prepared by a TEAM of specialists. The TEAM specialists typically include the child's teacher, adjustment counselor, physician, psychologist, etc. Each person preparing an assessment must summarize in writing the procedures employed in conducting their assessment, results, and their diagnostic impression as well as define in detail their view of the child's needs. Mass.Admin.Code tit. 603 Secs. 319.0-319.4. Section 310.3 of the regulations requires that current records be kept of all information relating to evaluations. Records must be available for inspection by the child's parents and can be useful in review of the child's progress after an IEP is adopted. 72 Given the clear import of the regulations, I have no doubt that once a paper is submitted by a TEAM participant and accepted into the evaluation process to help in the child's evaluation, whether read or not, it becomes part of the child's educational record. I would find this to be so regardless of whether the paper was previously a research paper, a journal entry or, as is normally the case, was prepared specifically for the evaluation. 73 If, under the facts of the case, Alinovi's giving of her paper to Generelli transformed it from a private paper into a professional work product, then the administrators of the special needs program would be deemed to be on notice of its contents whether or not they read it, and Alinovi would have lost her right of privacy in it. If the paper was not accepted into the evaluation process and was not, under Chapter 766, a submission that became part of the student's record, then I believe we should follow the well-established law that when a search is based upon consent and consent is withdrawn or revoked the searchers must abide by the limitations placed upon them by the consenting individual. See, e.g., Linn v. Civatero, 714 F.2d 1278, 1288 (5th Cir.1983); United States v. Ward, 776 F.2d 143 (9th Cir.1978); Mason v. Pulliam, 557 F.2d 426 (5th Cir.1977). See also LaFave, Search and Seizure Sec. 8.1(c) (1978); Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure Secs. SS 240.3 (Official Draft 1975). 74 Since the district court did not address what I conceive of as is the central issue, I would remand for factual findings on it.