Board member's information quest not cool with District 50 colleagues
Woodland Elementary District 50 board member Vincent Juarez has been publicly scolded for filing an open-records request that led to the agency providing about 6,000 pages of documents to him.
Board members voted 4-3 in favor of a censure resolution stating Juarez's Freedom of Information Act submission last month occurred in a way that violated his oath of office and policies governing Gurnee-based Woodland's elected officials. A censure is the equivalent of a public reprimand.
Juarez was one of the three board members who voted against the censure Tuesday evening. He contended he was not satisfied with answers he received from Woodland officials and had to file the open records request to gain the information he wanted.
“I have always done my best to look after the students' and taxpayers' best interests and was attempting to answer questions,” Juarez told the Daily Herald. “I had questions asked of me. For the (board) to censure a member as a result of filing a FOIA is a stretch of power.”
According to the resolution, Juarez submitted a 12-part public records request May 11. He sought records related to an air-conditioning project bid for Woodland Elementary East and West in unincorporated Gages Lakes.
In addition, Juarez wanted all emails to or from a Woodland employee during a 28-month period. Another demand was for emails related to an unsuccessful April 7 referendum request for Woodland to have a temporary, one-year tax cap of 5 percent to generate enough money to air-condition the primary school building on Gages Lake Road and pay for other capital improvements and technology upgrades districtwide.
Juarez was accused in the eight-page censure of not abiding by board protocol that calls for elected officials to seek documents and information from the administration by using a “pink sheet” form. The censure contends Juarez did not respect taxpayer interests by filing “an overly burdensome” open-records request that took 98 hours to fill and resulted in about 6,000 pages of documents.
District 50 board President Chris Schrantz said while officials respect the FOIA law, a significant concern was that part of Juarez's request targeted the Woodland employee and emails to the district from a Parent Teacher Association member. He said it's hoped the seven-member Woodland board will move forward and work together.
“We took this (action) with much deliberation,” Schrantz said. “It was not done lightly at all.”