Winthrop Harbor D1 Documents – The Arduous Journey

I thought more people would be interested in how Winthrop Harbor District 1 handles FOIA requests. Below is the timeline of my requests and the district responses. As you can see it was a frustrating experience that is still not completed. Here is brief overview or the problems:

• The district did not a FOIA policy as required until after I made a second request.
• They refused to release the same information about a referendum supporter as they released about me
• They denied requests and fulfilled it upon appeal
• They made statements about several request but did not provide the supporting documentation so the numbers could be verified
• Their fee structure appears to be excessive
• They only allow inspection of some documents even though other districts provide copies of these same documents

This will also give you an idea of what documents you can FOIA from your own school district.

May 17th – First email document request
May 18th – Dr. Tenbusch’s Response and attached documents

• 2005 AFR
• 2005 Audit
• Fiscal Year 2006 Budget
• January 06 Financial Report
• Outstanding Debt

May 18th – Reply to documents
May 19th – Second email document request
May 22nd – Email asking for a time frame
May 22nd – First Official FOIA request – Notice this was sent before the District adopted a formal FOIA procedure
May 22nd – Dr. Tenbusch’s time frame response
May 25th – Dr. Tenbusch’s Formal Response to my FOIA
May 25th – Request for further research
May 25th – Dr. Tenbusch’s Denial – and reiterated claim my email was not forwarded. Decide for yourself is his statement is accurate:

• Email Compare 1
• Email Compare 2

May 25th – Request for public records
May 30th – FOIA request and appeal – Replies dated 06/07

• Reply Letter – Under #3, it states there was no formal FOIA process, which they should have had already, and that the formal procedure was adopted due to my mulitple requests for documents. As you can see from the time line here, I had made only 2 email requests of several documents each at the time of this new policy. How interesting it is to change a policy for only 2 requests.
• Email Denial
• Prior Teacher Contract Denial (Later provided with a new FOIA request)
• Check Register Denial – Notice here I can only inspect these in the office even though other districts provide copies. Also, in Dr. Tenbusch’s email dated 04/22/2006 he states, “The documents you have requested in your last two emails are not available electronically; however, with the possible exclusion of the check registers for the last three years“
• Current Teacher/Administrator Contract Approval
  • Brooks Contract
  • Hodge Contract
  • Whitford Contract
  • Tenbusch Contract – You’ll notice that Dr. Tenbusch’s contract was to end June 30, 2006 but was extended by the board through June 30, 2007. There is also and automatic renewal clause that guarantess another year if notice is not given before the end of March that the contract will not be renewed. (page 9)
  • 2005-06 Teachers Contract

June 2nd – Response to letter from Dr. Tenbusch

• Letter from Dr. Tenbusch – Dated May 30th/Mailed June 1st/Received June 2nd
• FOIA Procedures
• FOIA Documents Available
• FOIA Request Form
• Board FOIA Policies – adopted May 22nd after my second email request
• Citizen Advocacy Center (FOIA process explained with samples and how to appeal)

June 12th – Previous Teacher Contract FOIA
June 12th – Printed Check Register and Payments to Retiring Teachers Appeal
Responses to June 12th requests

• Retirement Payouts – I cannot verify this without pay details since no supporting documentation was provided.
• Previous Teacher Contract Approved
• Final Email Header Denial – I have exhausted all avenues with the District to obtain this information. My question is who are they trying to protect? Why are their different rules for referendum supporters and referendum opponents? My only recourse, at this point is to file with the curcuit courts. At this time I do not intend to do so since it would cost the District money, but I am leaving the option open if I need to at a later date.
• Printed Copy Check Register Denial – I could not inspect these records until after 7/17. I will be scheduling this for sometime in August. This is still not acceptable since other school districts provide printed copies and it can most likely be printed from their accounting software.

June 15th – Clarification request
June 20th – Email conversation
June 27th – Email requesting date to inspect – No response to date

2003 Audit
2004 Audit
Salary Schedules from Teacher’s 2000-2005 Contract – I can scan the rest of the contract later if it is desired.

I will update this with the actual audits and contracts as I get them scanned in. You can tell by what is here already how difficult the district has been in giving me the documentation I have requested. There are also several cases where there is no supporting documentation for what they did provide, so I cannot verify its accuracy. With the lack of openness and trust issues, it makes one wonder what is being hidden?