Libertyville School District No. 70 properly withheld student incident reports under ISSRA and FOIA 7.5(r)

This reading view follows the source PDF's positioned text blocks. Page headers, repeated office furniture, and lower-margin notes are kept out of the narrative; source notes are available below. Reconstruction is automatic and imperfect — the PDF is the authoritative version, and it's linked on this page.

Dear

This determination is issued pursuant to section 9.5(f) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ( 5 ILCS 140/ 9.5(f) (West 2023 Supp.)). For the reasons explained below, this office has determined that no further action is warranted in this matter.

On September 3, 2024, you submitted a FOIA request to Libertyville School District No. 70 (District) seeking " incident reports related to physical altercations at Highland Middle School for the period from Jan 2023 to August 2024. Specifically, I am interested in reports documenting incidents where students were involved in physical fights or assaults, including any records of disciplinary actions taken."1 On September 17, 2024, the District denied your request in its entirety pursuant to section 6 of the Illinois School Student Records Act (ISSRA)2 and sections 7(1)(a)3 and 7.5(r)4 of FOIA. The District stated that "redacting the Section 7.5(r) of FOIA exempts from disclosure "[i]nformation prohibited from being disclosed by the [ ISSRA]." Section 6(a) of ISSRA provides that "[ n]o school student records or information contained therein may be released, transferred, disclosed or otherwise disseminated, except" to certain authorized parties who are irrelevant here. Section 2(d) of ISSRA6 defines "school student record" as "any writing or other recorded information concerning a student and by which a student may be individually identified, maintained by a school or at its direction or by an employee of a school, regardless of how or where the information is stored." ( Emphasis added.)

In Bowie v. Evanston Community Consolidated School District No. 65, 128 Ill. 2d 373, 375 (1989), parents of students requested student test scores and the race of each student tested for a five-year period. The Illinois Supreme Court held that a " masked record, which deletes individual identifying information, does not fall within the definition of a school student record, and is not prohibited from disclosure under the Act." Bowie, 128 Ill. 2d at 379. In Board of Education of City of Chicago v. Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, 2013 IL App (1st) 122447, ¶ 19 (2013), the Illinois Appellate Court distinguished student disciplinary records from masked test scores, stating that "[ a] 'masked' record is one where any information identifying a student has been deleted and the record is released for the purpose of research, statistical reporting, or planning." The court held that ISSRA prohibited disclosure of two students' disciplinary records because " the mere redaction of the students' surnames or reference to the students by their initials does not render the records 'masked." Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, 2013 IL App ( 1st) 122447, ¶ 21. In accordance with those cases, this office has previously determined that records documenting student behavior, rather than test scores, could not be sufficiently redacted to prevent the identification of students and that ISSRA prohibits the disclosure of such records. Ill. Att'y Gen. PAC Req. Rev. Ltr. 61177, issued January 3, 2020, at 2-3 ("[ P] arents, students, or other members of the public familiar with the teachers' classrooms could ascertain the identities of students based on the specific circumstances described in the notes or reports.").

Your FOIA request sought records documenting incidents where " students were involved in physical fights or assaults, including any records of disciplinary actions taken."7 The Public Access Counselor has determined that resolution of this matter does not require the issuance of a binding opinion. This letter serves to close this matter. If you have any questions, please contact me at (773) 590- 7878 or benjamin. silver@ilag. gov.

Very truly yours, BENJAMIN J. SILVER Assistant Attorney General Public Access Bureau 83088 f no fi war sd cc: Via electronic mail Ms. Robin Smith Kollman Director of Communications, FOIA Officer Libertyville School District 70 1381 Lake Street Libertyville, Illinois 60048 rkollman@d70schools. org