Requests must sufficiently describe a public record, so as to enable the District to find it. Requests should also include a contact telephone number to allow a District employee to make contact to resolve issues, clarify the scope of a request or help identify a specific document containing the information sought.
The District must respond to a FOIA request within five business days. In some cases, the District may extend the time period to 10 business days to fulfill a request completely. A response does not necessarily mean the records are provided within five days.
The District can grant the FOIA request, deny the request, or grant it in part and deny it in part. If the request is granted in full or in part, the District can charge a fee to process the request. Fees are calculated according to the District’s FOIA procedures and guidelines and documented in a detailed fee itemization form. The fee must be paid before a public record is made available. Furthermore, in some cases, the District will require a good-faith deposit before it processes a public records request.
If the request is denied, the District will provide the basis for its denial in a written notice. The District will also provide notice of an individual’s rights to appeal the denial to the Board of Education or file a lawsuit against the district in circuit court.
The District may charge a fee for a public records search, for the necessary copying of a public record for inspection or for providing a copy of a public record under the District’s procedures and guidelines. The fee shall be limited to actual mailing costs, and to the actual incremental cost of duplication or publication including labor, the cost of search, examination, review, and the deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information. Labor costs shall be estimated and charged in increments of fifteen minutes, with all partial time increments rounded down.