FOIA For DPS61 Union Communications Was Denied

I received a tip regarding some union negotiation issues with Decatur Public Schools District 61. I submitted a FOIA Request for communications and documents that might substantiate said tip.

The FOIA Request was mostly denied, and no meaningful information was uncovered.

My request for proposed contracts was denied due to exemptions relating to "collective negotiating matters". My request for emails was denied due to being "unduly burdensome", because my request returned thousands of potential results.

I submitted a Request For Review to the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor office regarding two of the items in the FOIA Request.

I will report on the Request For Review at a later time. I do not intend to investigate the union negotiation issues further.

Additionally, I requested:

1. The list described by Section 5 of FOIA, as "a reasonably current list of all types or categories of records under its control."

This item was also denied. I have contacted the ACLU for assistance, but have not received a reply yet. I intend to seek further legal action to compel the District to create and provide such a list.

I may report on the Section 5 list in detail at a later time.

Request Details

Purpose: Primarily to investigate tips I had received regarding union negotiations.
To: Decatur Public Schools District 61, Melissa Bradford MBradford@dps61.org
Short-Name: dps-union-2023-08-15

Timeline

• Sent: 2023-08-15
• Extension: 2023-08-23 (The extension letter is dated Aug 22, but I received the email on Aug 23)
• Response: 2023-08-29

Documents

• FOIA Request Email Thread
• FOIA Extension Letter
• FOIA Response Letter
• Union Contact Information

Request

I sent the following request:

Under Illinois FOIA, I request the following. Note that voluminous request & recurrent requester do not apply because this is a request made by a news organization to access and disseminate information & for articles in the public interest.

1. The list described by Section 5 of FOIA, as "a reasonably current list of all types or categories of records under its control."
2. A list of union representatives for each of the following unions. Each rep should include name, phone number, title, and email address, and which union they're responsible for. Send as a .csv or .xlxs a. DEA b. DESPA c. DFTA d. SEIU A e. SEIU B f. SEIU C g. Teamsters
3. A list of union negotiation committee members for each of the following unions. Each member should include name, phone number, title, email address, and which union they're responsible for. Send as a .csv or .xlxs a. DEA b. DESPA c. DFTA d. SEIU A e. SEIU B f. SEIU C g. Teamsters
4. A list of district representatives responsible for negotiating / communicating with unions for each of the following unions. Each rep should include name, phone number, title, email address, and which union they're responsible for. Send as a .csv or .xlxs a. DEA b. DESPA c. DFTA d. SEIU A e. SEIU B f. SEIU C g. Teamsters
5. Emails from district representatives (#4 above) to union representatives (#2 & #3 above) AND emails from union representatives to District representatives from October 2022 - August 15, 2023, just for the following unions. a. DFTA b. SEIU A c. SEIU B d. SEIU C
6. Proposed union contracts or any documents requesting modifications to or negotiations about union contracts from October 2022 - August 15, 2023 for any of the unions
7. A copy of the current contract with SEIU A, Custodians & SEIU B, Maintenance. I received a tip that the copies posted online may be incorrect, so please send copies & do not link me to the online copies.
8. A list of meetings between District reps & union representatives between October 2022 - August 15, 2023. These should include date, time, location, and description/purpose of the meeting, as well as which union is being met with.