DGreport.com

Tonight at 7pm District 99 will once again violate the Illinois Open Meetings Act by holding a closed session to discuss a decided court case.  District officials said the meeting will be held in closed session because board members will be discussing litigation. Really? The exception to the OMA clearly states PENDING litigation, not decided [...]

In a Jan. 20 editorial, the Reporter takes D99 to task for its delay in responding to a request for information by the Illinois Attorney General’s office. The letter from Assistant Attorney General Amanda Lundeen, dated Nov. 10, 2009, asked for a written response within 30 days to a complaint from the Reporter alleging that [...]

An article in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune addressed the difficulties even elected board members face in trying to obtain information from local government. Among the several cases cited were those of D99 board member Deborah Boyle, DuPage Water Commissioner Liz Chaplin of Downers Grove, and D58 board member Scott O’Connell. The reporter, Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, had [...]

From this week’s Reporter: Transparency needed for public support of education I write about your editorial, “Details of superintendent’s contract must be public” (May 13). Sen. Dan Cronin, Rep. Sandra Pihos and I recently passed legislation to require school districts to post on the Internet every detail of school administrators’ contracts, including perks like cars, [...]

Transparency, or lack thereof. Last weekend I filed a Freedom of Information Request via email to CHSD99′s Board of Education regarding their Closed Session that began the April 27th School Board meeting.

See how easy it is to adapt FOIA policy when you want to (and happen to be president)? “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones,” he promised, shortly before signing several new executive orders, two of which were specifically designed to increase access to government information. Read the rest here.