Massac Unit School District 1 is a public school district located in Metropolis, IL. The Superintendent shall serve as the District’s Freedom of Information Officer and assume all the duties and powers of that office as provided in FOIA and this policy. The Superintendent may delegate these duties and powers to one or more designees, but the delegation shall not relieve the Superintendent of responsibility for the delegated action.

Requesting Records

A request for inspection and/or copies of public records must be made in writing and may be submitted by personal delivery, mail, or email directed to the District’s Freedom of Information Officer listed below. Individuals making a request are not required to state a reason for the request other than to identify when the request is for a commercial purpose or when requesting a fee waiver. Email requests must include the entirety of the request within the body of the email and not as an attachment or hyperlink. The Superintendent shall instruct District employees to immediately forward any request for inspection and copying of a public record to the District’s Freedom of Information Officer or designee.

Download the Written Request form here.

Responding to Requests

The Freedom of Information Officer shall approve all requests for public records unless:

1. The requested material does not exist; 

2. The requested material is exempt from inspection and copying by the Freedom of Information Act;  

3. Complying with the request would be unduly burdensome; 

4. The request would require the District to open electronically attached files or hyperlinks to view or access details of a request. In that case, the requester shall be notified within five business days that the entirety of the electronic request must appear within the body of the electronic submission; or

5. The District has a reasonable belief that the request was not submitted by a person, and the requester fails to verify orally or in writing that they are a person within 30 days of the District's request for such verification. 

Within five business days after receipt of a request for access to a public record, the Freedom of Information Officer shall comply with or deny the request, unless the time for response is extended as specified in Section 3 of FOIA. The Freedom of Information Officer may extend the time for a response for up to five business days from the original due date. If an extension is needed, the Freedom of Information Officer shall: (1) notify the person making the request of the reason for the extension, and (2) either inform the person of the date on which a response will be made, or agree with the person in writing on a compliance period. 

The time periods are extended for responding to requests for records made for a commercial purpose, requests by a recurrent requester, or voluminous requests, as those terms are defined in Section 2 of FOIA. The time periods for responding to those requests are governed by Sections 3.1, 3.2, and 3.6 of FOIA. 

When responding to a request for a record containing both exempt and non-exempt material, the Freedom of Information Officer shall redact exempt material from the record before complying with the request. 

Fees 

Persons making a request for copies of public records must pay any and all applicable fees. The Freedom of Information Officer shall establish a fee schedule that complies with FOIA and this policy and is subject to the Board’s review. The fee schedule shall include copying fees and all other fees to the maximum extent they are permitted by FOIA, including without limitation, search and review fees for responding to a request for a commercial purpose and fees, costs, and personnel hours in connection with responding to a voluminous request.

Copying fees, except when fixed by statute, shall be reasonably calculated to reimburse the District’s actual cost for reproducing and certifying public records and for the use, by any person, of its equipment to copy records. In no case shall the copying fees exceed the maximum fees permitted by FOIA. If the District’s actual copying costs are equal to or greater than the maximum fees permitted by FOIA, the Freedom of Information Officer is authorized to use FOIA’s maximum fees as the District’s fees. No copying fees shall be charged for: (1) the first 50 pages of black and white, letter or legal sized copies, or (2) electronic copies other than the actual cost of the recording medium, except if the response is to a voluminous request, as defined in FOIA.

A fee reduction is available if the request qualifies under Section 6 of FOIA. The Freedom of Information Officer shall set the amount of the reduction taking into consideration the amount of material requested and the cost of copying it.