North Cook News

The Illinois attorney general’s office is looking into a complaint that Wilmette Public Schools District 39 violated the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to release comments of parents, teachers and students surveyed to assess the level of bullying in its schools.

In June, the district released the survey results, conducted under the topic of “School Climate” by a District 39 advisory board, the Community Review Committee (CRC), but later claimed the comments were exempt under a FOIA provision that covers notes, drafts and other activities by a governmental body.

FOIA experts say that the district has no sound legal argument for claiming the exemption.

Chris Horner

Christopher Horner, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said that the law is very clear on what is and isn’t exempt.

“The agency cites an exemption which allows (but does not mandate) an agency to withhold inter-agency 'give and take,' the opinions of agency employees,” Horner wrote in an email. “It exempts what reflects a public body's reasoning; it isn't some blanket exclusion to hide from the public that which informs an agency's reasoning.”

Beth Feeley, a District 39 parent and president of the neighborhood group New Trier Neighbors, said she believes the comments would provide more insight into the results, which showed that students espousing conservative view points were bullied at a rate second only to students bullied for their race.

“The district can redact the names (of the teachers, parents and students), but we have a right to know what’s going on in our schools,” Feeley said.

A strategic plan for District 39 released recently cites race and religion as reasons some studenst were being bullied and recommended “proactive measures need to be made in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusiveness.”

But studenst saying that they were bullied for their religion barely registered a blip on the survey results, and the strategic plan made no mention of the kids bullied for their conservative views.

In June, at a special meeting of the Wilmette Board of Education, Erin Stone, president of the CRC, said the comments of parents whose children were being bullied for their race and ethnicity were “heartbreaking.”  

Stone mentioned the bullying of conservative kids and acknowledged having comments from parents, teachers and students concerning those kids, but included no description of the nature of the comments.

Feeley said making the comments public would shed light on the number of and manner in which kids are being harassed for having conservative views.

"I am glad the CRC recommended that the school address this situation but was disappointed to not see it addressed in the school's strategic plan,” she said.