District 46 wants to update its website
Some Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members say they want to make it easier for taxpayers and others to find documents on the school system's website.
Board members heard a suggestion to streamline the website during a meeting Wednesday night. It was part of a presentation by District 46 board members Michael Carbone and Susan Facklam, who last month were assigned to study what additional documents should go on the website.
Carbone said he discovered District 46 had more information than he initially believed after he recently scoured the website. He said the website just needs to be reorganized to make it "a little more friendly" to find a variety of financial documents.
One example of difficult-to-find information on the website was the teachers' contract. Facklam said it may help if the district includes a link to the financial information on the school board webpage instead of only through the business office section.
District 46 has started posting monthly check journals along with Freedom of Information Act requests. Carbone said additional information could include a list of all lobbying organizations and vendors that have a relationship with District 46.
Overall, Carbone said, District 46 is doing well in providing financial information over its website.
"We have more information online than most of the North Shore districts," board President Mary Garcia said.
Carbone and others have cited Cary Elementary District 26's website as an example of easily-accessed financial information. Visitors who click a "financial facts" tab will find treasurer's reports, monthly check registers, vendor information and other documents.
District 46 activist Lennie Jarratt of Round Lake Beach was among those to press for greater online access to information, contending it would reduce the number of Freedom of Information Act requests sent to District 46.
In an effort to prove his point at an April 28 board meeting, Jarratt submitted 21 FOIA requests on behalf of district residents and others living outside the boundaries in Mettawa and Lakemoor. Some of the requests were for the current teachers' contract and screeshots of Superintendent Ellen Correll's e-mail inbox.
Officials said it cost $3,314 and 65.5 man-hours to handle the FOIA requests. The cost and the FOIA demands were posted on the district's website.
District 46's check journal provides specifics such as amount, individual or vendor paid, and business purpose. Government watchdog Joseph Calomino, director of the Americans for Prosperity Illinois chapter, began prodding District 46 officials for the check log in late 2009.
Update: One resident wants better access to information