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By Pamela Lannom
plannom@thehinsdalean.com
Village had more than 900 FOIA requests in last year, school districts get far fewer
Last week was Sunshine Week, an initiative launched by the American Society of News Editors in 2005 to encourage conversation about the importance of open government.
One of the laws promoting open governance is the Freedom of Information Act allowing journalists and private citizens to file requests for and obtain public documents, provided they do not fall under a handful of exceptions.
Locally, the village of Hinsdale received 920 FOIA requests from March 3, 2025, to March 18, 2026. Hinsdale High School District 86 received the second-most FOIA requests in the past year, with 162. Community Consolidated School District 181 received the fewest with 72.
Most of the village's requests - 674 out of the 920 - are related to police or fire, according to a spreadsheet provided by village clerk Emily Tompkins. Those requests fell into six different areas (see chart). The second and third largest categories of requests were for permits (89) and building records (33).
Mike Hogan, records clerk for the Hinsdale police department, works with Tompkins to respond to requests that are police related.
Hogan said most of the requests come from regular citizens, not attorneys. Body cam video is stored by date (and a report number if it is a flagged event) and is easy to find. Requesters are emailed a link that allows them to access the video.
A majority of the requests are filled, most with redactions, Hogan said. The department cannot release juvenile arrest records or records that would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or if the release would interfere with an active criminal investigation.
The responses usually are not sent to legal for a review.
"The Officer-Worn Body Camera Act gives good guidance on the release of videos," Hogan said. "The attorney general's office also provides yearly training to help us as well."
That's not the case in District 86, which receives some complicated requests for information.
FOIA officer Deb Kedrowski said 50 to 60 percent of the requests require a legal review before responses can be provided. Often that review involves identifying information that needs to be redacted.
The district uses an online FOIA portal through which people can file requests. The software then notifies Kedrowski along with other administrators who might be involved in gathering information.
"Ultimately, the final records are loaded into the system and a letter of response outlining our redactions, if any, or notifying the requester of 'unduly burdensome' are provided," she said.
The district used to track the legal fees related to FOIA reviews but no longer does so.
"I think that people who truly have a concern that we might not be doing the right thing and are searching for those answers aren't really influenced by the cost of it, because the end justifies the means for them," Kedrowski said.
Trying to track staff time is not really practical, she said.
"We have said publicly that FOIA is nobody's full time job, but it's everybody's part-time job," Kedrowski said. "If you are called to produce a FOIA response, you've got a clock and you've got to answer and you may not be expecting that. You've got to figure it into your work schedule to do it or you've got to do it outside of work areas."
The district is required to conduct a "reasonable" search for responsive materials. That might mean searching documents electronically, asking board members to search their text messages or physically looking through documents.
"I have a FOIA right now where I was down in the cage behind the Bouchard Family Fitness Center," Kedrowski said. "There are several records stored in a cage down there on shelves."
Board members and administrators do not get involved in processing FOIA requests, board President Cat Greenspon said.
"What the previous board did was that we made sure there was a clear and defined wall between the board and FOIA and administration and FOIA, because it can only be the FOIA officer and legal that responds to FOIAs directly," she said. Kedrowski concurred.
"Whether we want to release it or not release it really is a legal construct, not an opinion construct," she said.
Greenspon said she Most of the FOIA requests the village receives are for the police department, with most of those being for body warn camera videos. District 86 issues a FOIA report each month that includes a chart showing how much staff time was spent filling the requests. respects First Amendment rights and FOIA obligations but sometimes wonders about multiple requests for the same information that are worded slightly differently. She also is troubled by the anger from filers who don't get the information they want.
"The personal attacks that come from them is sometimes just a bit much, because the staff ends up being exhausted and feeling terrible because no matter how hard they work at trying to fill the FOIAs, it just is never enough," Greenspon said.
Kedrowski said she is passionate about FOIA and does her best to get people the information they want.
"I don't think I could put the hours, time or take the feedback if I didn't feel strongly about it," she said. "I will say FOIA has been the source of the highest praise I've received from the community and the highest criticism I've received from the community.
"Everyone is passionate," she added. "I'm doing my best to get them what they're looking for and sometimes what they want isn't there. And sometimes what they get isn't the answer they hoped for."
"Whether we want to release it or not release it really is a legal construct, not an opinion construct."
- District 86 FOIA officer Deb Kedrowski
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