Customer Name:
Polly Ascher
| Please provide the findings of the survey that was sent to the D86 community from Panorama in the fall of 2021. As the parent of an 8th grader who is assessing where to send my child to high school| the results of this survey would be beneficial in determining if Hinsdale Central would be the right environment. I know other parents in my position would find this information helpful as well. |
Response:
| Your request is denied. The survey results and related documentation are exempt under FOIA Section 7(1)(f)| which exempts “[p]reliminary drafts| notes| recommendations| memoranda and other records in which opinions are expressed| or policies or actions are formulated| except that a specific record or relevant portion of a record shall not be exempt when the record is publicly cited and identified by the head of the public body.” 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(f); see also 5 ILCS 140/7(1)(c); Harwood v. McDonough| 344 Ill. App. 3d 242 (1st Dist. 2003). Citing the need to encourage survey respondents to provide frank and open feedback| as well as to prevent public bodies from being discouraged to solicit such feedback| the Illinois Attorney General’s office has repeatedly found that school district survey results are covered by the exemption at Section 7(1)(f). See| e.g.| 2012 PAC 20492 (survey raw data results were exempt); 2016 PAC 44309 and 2016 PAC 44311 (survey takers’ opinions and raw data were exempt because the responses were used in the District’s decision-making process); 2017 PAC 50257 (survey raw data and comments from members of the public gathered by a school district were exempt| notwithstanding the district’s publication of general summaries of the survey information| where those specific data and comments were not publicly cited and identified); 2018 PAC 53747 (community survey raw data was exempt). Further| the survey results have not been publicly cited and identified by the Board President. |