Is D86 President's Costly Records Request Claim True?

HINSDALE, IL — In January, a top official at Hinsdale High School District 86 said some public records requests were costing the district $10,000. But the district has yet to provide any information to back up her contention.

At a school board meeting, board President Nancy Pollak said requests under the Freedom of Information Act are costing the district a lot of money.

"I don't think that when people submit a FOIA request, they really understand the financial implications," Pollak said. "As I was doing research on FOIA, it seems that if it becomes a certain expense, then you would share some of that expense. I'n not suggesting we do that, but I'm suggesting that we need to understand when we have some FOIA requests that are $10,000, this is real money. We're not talking about photocopying paper."

In late January, Patch sent an email to Pollak and board President Tammy Prentiss for more information about the $10,000 requests. When they did not respond, Patch sent a public records request.

In response to the request, the district's Freedom of Information Act officer provided a recent report to the board on expenses related to public requests. But none of the information indicated the district had spent $10,000 on any particular request.

In the last four years, the district has spent no more than $4,270 in any one month on responding to all requests. Some months, the district spent nothing at all. This school year, expenditures were consistent with previous years until November. In December, the district spent $6,438. That was as the controversy over a revised science curriculum was heating up.

Through December, expenditures for the school year amounted to $16,177 for answering 58 requests. The information does not indicate that any one of those requests cost $10,000 or more. And if one did, the district may have been able to legally assert that such a request was "unduly burdensome" and asked the requester to narrow the request.

In the 2014-15 school year, the district saw abnormally high bills for public records requests, totaling $81,685. But the costs tapered off in October 2014 after contentious teacher union negotiations ended with a deal.

In response to Patch's records request, the district provided a document from its law firm Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn showing three 2014 requests from one citizen that cost nearly $27,000. Two of them sought information related to negotiations and a possible strike. According to the document, the citizen asked the attorney general to review the district's denial of documents. That dispute ended up costing the district $11,398, a good chunk of the $27,000. The law firm did not indicate whether the district prevailed in the matter. The district received these requests two years before Pollak joined the board.

Patch asked for information about what types of requests go to an attorney for review, which could escalate costs. In response, the district provided a flow chart showing the Freedom of Information Act officer is given two choices — handle a request herself or send it to an attorney for review. It was unclear how many requests go the legal route.

The district also provided an email that President Pollak sent to the FOIA officer in January labeled "Re: Board Protocols-Historical." It linked to a YouTube video of a U.S. Department of Justice official describing the costs charged to requesters for federal information. The federal law has no bearing on how a state entity such as a school district must handle requests.