FOIADetermination Letter (non-binding)Closed no further actionClosed Sessions

North Clay School District properly withheld closed session minutes under 7(1)(l)

The requester sought access to school board closed session minutes spanning an eight-year period.

Date issued: March 7, 2025
Request number(s): 85548
Public body: North Clay Community Unit School District No. 25
Statute(s): 5 ILCS 140/7
Exemption(s) discussed: 7(1)(l) — Closed-session meeting minutes not yet released under OMA Sec. 2.06
Outcome: Closed, no further action

Plain-language summary

A requester asked a school district for several years of closed session meeting minutes. The PAC ruled that the district was allowed to keep these records private because the district had not yet voted to make them public, as required by law. Consequently, the PAC closed the case without requiring the district to release the documents.

Legal question

Whether closed session meeting minutes are exempt from disclosure under FOIA when the public body has not yet determined they are available for public release under the Open Meetings Act.

Holding

The District properly withheld the requested closed session minutes because they have not been released to the public by the District pursuant to the Open Meetings Act.

Summary

The requester sought closed session meeting minutes from the North Clay Community Unit School District No. 25, which the District denied; the PAC determined the records were exempt from disclosure under FOIA.

closed sessionmeeting minutesschool districtFOIA exemption

Reading view (570 words)

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Dear

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

On February 14, 2025, you submitted a FOIA request to the North Clay Community Unit School District No. 25 (District) seeking copies of various District Board closed session meeting minutes from January 2015 through January 2023. On February 21, 2025, the District denied your request, asserting that the District had "taken action to keep all of the closed session minutes as closed for the dates included in your request ( January 2015 to January 2023)." 1 On February 28, 2025, you submitted this Request for Review contesting the District' s denial. Specifically, you alleged that any possible final action arising from the closed session discussions in question would have either been abandoned or completed by the time of your FOIA request.

Although not cited in the District' s denial, section 7(1)(l) of FOIA ( 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(l) (West 2023 Supp.), as amended by Public Acts 103-605, effective July 1, 2024; 103- 865, effective January 1, 2025) exempts from disclosure "[ m] inutes of meetings of public bodies closed to the public as provided in [OMA] until the public body makes the minutes available to The District's denial asserted that all of the closed session minutes for the period in question remain closed at this time, and this office has received no evidence indicating that the District has voted to make the minutes from any of those closed sessions available to the public under section 2.06(f) of OMA. Accordingly, because the closed session minutes you requested are exempt from disclosure under section 7(1)(l) of FOIA, regardless of the status of any final action that may have arisen from those closed session discussions, this office has determined that no further action is warranted in this matter.

This file is closed. If you have any questions, please contact me at Christopher. Boggs@ilag. gov.

Very truly yours, CHRISTOPHER R. BOGGS Deputy Public Access Counselor Public Access Bureau 85548 f no fi war sd cc: Via electronic mail Mr. Keith A. Price Superintendent North Clay Community Unit School District No. 25 953 Kinmundy Road Louisville, Illinois 62858 [email protected]

Notes from the original PDF (2)

1E- mail from Keith A. Price, Superintendent, North Clay Community Unit School District No. 25, to [ February 21, 2025).
2Section 2.06(f) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/2.06(f) (West 2022)) provides that the "[ m]inutes of meetings closed to the public shall be available only after the public body determines that it is no longer necessary to protect the public interest or the privacy of an individual by keeping them confidential[.]"