Community protests archival of FOIA log as board says documents were archived, not deleted

At the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 board meeting on Oct. 24, 2024, community members pressed the board over the district’s removal of older entries from the public FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) log, saying searchable records of past public‑records requests had been made inaccessible.

Yvonne Amer, a public commenter, accused the district of hiding years of FOIA records and described restricted access to an archive link that she said required permission and tracked who viewed materials. "Why this big brother behavior?" she asked during public comment.

Administration officials and the board said the log was archived, not deleted, after website migrations and policy changes. Deb Kudrowski, the district’s FOIA officer, and IT staff explained that a migration to GovQA in 2018 and a website update in 2022 broke some links; older records were moved to an archive that remains available on request. Board members noted that posting practices and redaction guidance changed over time and that some items previously posted as PDFs are no longer fully searchable on the public portal.

Board members asked administration for traffic and usage metrics and heard preliminary data showing most archived items had only a handful of page views. Officials warned that repairing roughly 400 broken links and reviewing older files for privacy or redaction compliance would require substantial staff time and legal review. IT staff estimated a month or two of technical work to restore links, with additional time for legal review.

Several trustees said the district must do a better job communicating archival procedures and suggested taking the archival cadence back to the policy committee so the public understands when records will be archived. The board president apologized for insufficient community notice and directed the administration to present an archival schedule, clearer explanations of alternate access routes (including FOIA request processes), and a concise public FAQ.

Public speakers and some trustees asked for at least a reinstatement of searchable request metadata (the fact that a request was filed and its request number) so community members can know what has been requested historically and pursue formal access when needed. Administration said archived responses remain available through the formal FOIA process and that some districts and state offices have moved away from publicly posting full FOIA attachments because of privacy and redaction complexities.

The board did not adopt a new policy at the meeting but directed staff to develop clearer communications and to take archival cadence considerations to the policy committee for review.

Next steps: administration will return with an archival schedule and public-facing materials explaining where and how records can be accessed.