In accordance with the State of Illinois Freedom of Information Act and Golf School District 67 Board of Education Policy 2.250, the district's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer will respond to requests from anyone desiring to inspect and/or copy a district public record.
FOIA is a state statute that provides the public the right to access government documents and records. The premise behind FOIA is that the public has a right to know what the government is doing. The law provides that a person can ask a public body for a copy of its records on a specific subject and the public body must provide those records unless there is an exemption in the statute that protects those records from disclosure.
Records that may be immediately disclosed include:
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Board of Education meeting schedule, Board of Education agendas, approved minutes, Board of Education policies
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Strategic Plan
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School Report Cards
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Annual Financial Report, Budget, Audit
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Collective Bargaining Agreement
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Vendor contracts over $25,000
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Staff compensation report
District 67 is obligated to respond within 5 business days after the request is received. Day 1 of the 5-day timeline is the first business day after the request is received by the public body. If additional time is needed, the public body must notify the requester in writing within 5 business days after the receipt of the request of the statutory reasons for the extension and when the requested information will be produced. Commercial requests allow for a response within 21 business days.
There are several exceptions to public disclosure that include, but are not limited to: private information, personal information, law enforcement records, preliminary drafts, business trade secrets, proposals and bids until a final selection is made and requests that are unduly burdensome. The requester will be notified in writing specifying the reasons for the denial. The requester has the right to appeal the public body's response by filing a request for review with the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor within 60 calendar days. Requests will be approved, unless the requested material is (a) not a "public record" as defined by Policy 2:250; (b) exempt from inspection and copying by the Freedom of Information Act or any other state or federal law; or (c) not required to be preserved or cataloged. Also, FOIA requests can be denied if complying would be unduly burdensome.
FOIA requests may be submitted to Gina Ciupinski at [email protected].