Correspondence regarding St. Paul's School and/or Owen Labrie (Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women)

Dear Requester Best
This is to acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Act request dated September 22, 2022 and received by the Office on Violence Against Women on September 22, 2022 for requesting correspondence between Concord Police Department, Concord City Council Members, University of New Hampshire's Prevention Innovation Research Center (Sharyn Potter) and US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, Laura L Dunn, SurvJustice, NHCADSV, Amanda Grady Sexton, Lyn Schollett, Debra Altschiller, Alyssa D'Andrea, Steven J Kelly Esq, Steven D Silverman Esq, Charles Douglas/Chuck Douglas Esq, Dan Hill (aka Daniel Gregg Hill), Congresswoman Ann Kuster regarding St Paul's School and/or Owen Labrie and or Alexander Prout, Susan Prout, Francesca/Chessy Prout." between the date range: April 29, 2014 - July 2022. Can you please call me on my work cell phone at 202-305-5309 to discuss the scope of this request?

For your information, this Office assigns incoming requests to one of three tracks: simple, complex, or expedited. Each request is then handled on a first-in, first-out basis in relation to other requests in the same track. Simple requests usually receive a response in approximately 20 business days, whereas complex requests necessarily take longer. At this time, your request has been assigned to the complex track. You may wish to narrow the scope of your request to limit the number of potentially responsive records or agree to an alternative time frame for processing, should records be located; or you may wish to await the completion of our records search to discuss either of these options.
This Office has adopted a first in/first out practice of processing all incoming requests. Your request has been placed in chronological order based on the date of receipt and will be handled as quickly as possible when it is assigned for processing. If you have any questions regarding the status of your request, you may contact me by telephone at 202-305-5309 or you may write to me at Catherine.poston@usdoj.gov<mailto:Catherine.poston@usdoj.gov> or United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, 145 N Street, NE, Suite 10W.121,Washington, D.C. 20530.
You may contact our FOIA Public Liaison at 202-305-5309 listed above for any further assistance and to discuss any aspect of your request. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001; e-mail at ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.

Sincerely,

Catherine M. Poston
Attorney Advisor

February 24, 2025

Dear Requester,

This responds to your Freedom of Information Act request dated September 22, 2022, and received in the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) on September 22, 2022, for records concerning, "[C]orrespondence between Concord Police Department, Concord City Council Members, University of New Hampshire's Prevention Innovation Research Center (Sharyn Potter) and US Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, Laura L Dunn, SurvJustice, NHCADSV, Amanda Grady Sexton, Lyn Schollett, Debra Altschiller, Alyssa D'Andrea, Steven J Kelly Esq, Steven D Silverman Esq, Charles Douglas/Chuck Douglas Esq, Dan Hill (aka Daniel Gregg Hill), Congresswoman Ann Kuster regarding St Paul's School and/or Owen Labrie and or Alexander Prout, Susan Prout, Francesca/Chessy Prout.
Date range: April 29, 2014 - July 2022."

Please be advised no responsive records subject to the Freedom of Information Act were located.

OVW, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, provides federal leadership in developing the national capacity to reduce violence against women and administer justice for and strengthen services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. OVW administers grant programs established under the Violence Against Women Act and subsequent legislation that support efforts to provide services for victims and hold perpetrators accountable through promoting a coordinated community response to these crimes.
OVW does not maintain records such as those that you described. It appears that the records you seek are likely to be maintained by state or local authorities. For your information, the federal Freedom of Information Act applies only to records maintained by federal agencies that are subject to the FOIA. Records that are maintained by state or local authorities are subject only to any records access laws that might be applicable to those states and localities. Accordingly, if you have not already done so, I suggest that you make a request for such records to the proper state or local authority in accordance with the appropriate state or local records access law.
For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(c). This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist.
Please be advised that we have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions.
You may contact me at ovw.foia@usdoj.gov for any further assistance and to discuss any aspect of your request. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769.
If you are not satisfied with my response to this request, you may administratively appeal by writing to the Director, Office of Information Policy (OIP), United States Department of Justice, Sixth Floor, 441 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001, or you may submit an appeal through OIP's FOIAonline portal by creating an account on the following web site: https://foiaonline.regulations.gov/foia/action/public/home. Your appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted within 90 days of the date of my response to your request. If you submit your appeal by mail, both the letter and the envelope should be clearly marked "Freedom of Information Act Appeal."

Sincerely,

OVW FOIA
Attorney/Advisor