Illinois Attorney General upholds Geneva school district’s FOIA request

District doesn’t have to release report it paid more than $35K for

Coultrap Educational Services Center

GENEVA – Geneva District 304 officials do not have to release a report investigating workplace harassment allegations against Facilities Operations Director Scott Ney, according to a decision by the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor.

The Kane County Chronicle submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the Drendel & Jansons Law Group report the district paid $35,262 to investigate allegations.

“The Public Access Bureau concludes that the Geneva Community Unit School District 304 (District) did not improperly deny Ms. Brenda Schory’s Nov. 8, 2021 FOIA request,” the PAC’s Jan. 13 letter stated.

According to state law, all records in the custody or possession of a public body are presumed to be open to inspection or copying, with exemptions to be narrowly construed, the PAC decision letter stated.

The exemption cited and upheld includes preliminary drafts, notes, recommendations, memoranda and other records “in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions are formulated.”

It includes that the public record was not publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body, in this case, Board President Taylor Egan.

The PAC letter also cites that the exemption applies to “inter- and intra-agency pre-decisional and deliberative material.”

The PAC cited case law from Illinois Appellate Court, which found that “purely factual material” is not exempt from disclosure … unless the factual material is ‘inextricably intertwined’ with pre-decisional discussions.”

“This office’s review of the report confirms that it is replete with the opinions and recommendations of the law firm that the District hired to conduct an investigation,” the letter stated.

In its request for review, the Kane County Chronicle maintained that there is an overriding public interest to know the results of the Drendel & Jansons Law Group report.

In response to the PAC’s decision, Dennis Anderson, vice president of News & Content Development for Shaw Media, said, “We are considering our options going forward regarding the request.”