Recent Court Decisions

A public agency improperly redacted (blocked out) financial terms from contracts that it provided in response to a FOIA request. Any records that document public money being paid to entities under contracts to perform a governmental function must be disclosed under FOIA.

This opinion is binding only to the parties involved and may be appealed pursuant to State law.

A public body must disclose public records in its possession that pertain to public business. While requested records in this opinion were in the possession of a Student Government Association (SGA), the SGA was managed and controlled by a Student Activities Center, which was ultimately controlled by the public University. The PAC found the University’s ultimate control over the SGA made SGA’s records subject to disclosure under FOIA.

This opinion is binding only to the parties involved and may be appealed pursuant to State law.

This decision addresses whether an administrator who is dismissed for failure to have the appropriate license has the right to “bump back” to a tenured teacher position. No, held the Court under the facts presented in this case. The school board dismissed the assistant principal for failure to have a Type-75 certificate. The facts demonstrated that the assistant principal knew she was relinquishing her tenure when she accepted the promotion to assistant principal. The assistant principal claimed that she was still a tenured teacher and could not be terminated except for cause related to her performance as a teacher. The Court found nothing in the statute or board rule that supported these claims. The Court upheld the dismissal concluding that her loss of tenure resulted from her voluntary decision to seek and accept a promotion to a nontenured assistant principal position.

An assistant principal (AP) sued the school board for (a) retaliatory discharge, and (b) violation of the Illinois Whistleblower Act. The AP claimed that the board discharged her and retaliated against her exercising her mandatory child abuse reporting duties. After a trial, the jury awarded her $1,000,500.00 for her “retaliatory discharge” claim. However, this verdict was overturned on appeal because the AP was not an at-will employee but instead under contract. Retaliatory discharge actions are only available to at-will employees - not to employees whose contractual term of employment is not renewed. Here, the school board chose not to renew the contract. The court sent the case back to the trial court to assess damages under the Whistleblower Act claim, which the AP also claimed.

The Ill. Supreme Court has ruled that the office of the State’s Attorney in each county is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The court further opined that States Attorney’s offices are not of the judicial branch of government but the executive branch (the judicial branch is exempt from FOIA). School districts and their local school counsel may find this decision helpful in obtaining copies of documents affecting them which have been prepared, issued, or retained by their local State’s Attorney.