CPS: Ethics Officer

Dear Miriam:

Thank you for your interest in Chicago Public Schools. Your FOIA request has been submitted. Your FOIA Center reference number for tracking purposes is: N015306-051924
You have requested the following records: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

1. A log of all emails to/from the CPS Ethics Officer, from May 1, 2024 - May 15, 2024. Please search all CPS email accounts as well as personal accounts used for public business. The log should include but not be limited to: sender, recipient(s), date and time, subject line, and attachment.

2. Calendars for Jennifer Chan, CPS Ethics Officer, from January 1, 2024 - the date this FOIA is processed.

3. Membership list of those on the CPS Ethics Committee as of the date this FOIA is processed.

Because this request is in the public interest for Illinois nonprofit The FOIA Bakery’s work to advocate for public education, please waive any fees in accordance with 5 ILCS § 140/6(c). Feel free to contact me with any questions, or if clarification is needed.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Miriam Bhimani

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) responds to all public records requests in accordance with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq.
Due to the volume and complexity of requests received in the normal course of business, CPS is extending the time for its initial response to your request by an additional 5 business days (to 10 business days total beginning on the first business day following receipt of the request) pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/3(e)(v) which allows for the examination and evaluation of the requested records by personnel to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of Illinois FOIA or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions.
Upon the completion of a response, CPS will provide the first 50 pages to you at no charge.  If a response is more than 50 pages, a fee of 15¢ per page will be charged for each additional page. Copies of video recordings have a fee of $48. All applicable fees must be paid prior to the copying. CPS will inform you of any fees due if your paper response exceeds 50 pages. You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you’ll receive an email when your request has been completed. Thank you for using the CPS FOIA Center.

Track the issue status and respond at: https://cps.mycusthelp.com/WEBAPP//_rs/RequestEdit.aspx?rid=15306

--- Please respond above this line ---
June 4, 2024 Miriam Bhimani requests@muckrock.com
RE: Chicago Public Schools FOIA Request N015306-051924
Dear Ms. Bhimani: This letter is in reply to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking the following information: Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

1. A log of all emails to/from the CPS Ethics Officer, from May 1, 2024 - May 15, 2024. Please search all CPS email accounts as well as personal accounts used for public business. The log should include but not be limited to: sender, recipient(s), date and time, subject line, and attachment.

2. Calendars for Jennifer Chan, CPS Ethics Officer, from January 1, 2024 - the date this FOIA is processed.
RESPONSE : The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) FOIA Office has reviewed these portions of your request and determined that, as currently written, they are unduly burdensome beyond the public interest in seeking numerous records maintained in multiple locations and which contain highly sensitive and exempt information that would require a timely and careful review. In order to respond to this request, the CPS FOIA Office would first be required to separately gather the requested calendar exports and conduct an eDiscovery search to produce the requested email log. The FOIA Office has conducted a preliminary e-discovery search with the parameters set forth in this request, which yielded 1,241 search results. Due to the nature of the email search, in seeking two weeks’ worth of the CPS Ethics Officer’s email account (the individual responsible for intaking and responding to ethics inquiries, submitted via email from any CPS official, employee, vendor, parent or member of the community) without a filter by subject matter or keyword, subject line and sender and recipient lines are extremely likely to contain personal email addresses, the identity of employees, parents, vendors, or members of the public witness to or reporting Ethics matters, exempt details of communications between a public body and its attorney, and details of pending investigations, which would require a careful and timely review of not only each of the 1,241 lines of metadata pulled in the log, but the emails themselves and consultation with the Ethics Office in order to determine if any portion of the data is exempt from disclosure. Further, producing five months’ of the CPS Ethics Officer’s calendar exports is likely contain much of the same exempt information detailed above, and would require the same timely review and consultation. Accordingly, gathering and reviewing the requested scope of records would require dozens of staff hours and therefore, as your FOIA request is currently written, the dedication of staff and/or resources is unduly burdensome on the daily operations of the CPS beyond the public interest. This is not a denial of these portions of your request. Pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/3(g), we are asking that you narrow these portions of your request, in writing, to more manageable proportions.  If you do not modify or revise these portions of your request to more manageable proportions within five (5) business days, your request will be considered denied. If you do seek to narrow this request, you may to specify a particular ethics matter for which you seek records, limit the scope of the records sought, and/or limit the timeframe of the search. 3. Membership list of those on the CPS Ethics Committee as of the date this FOIA is processed. RESPONSE : Documents responsive to this portion of your request are available to download via the CPS FOIA Center at www.cps.edu/FOIARequests . Please log in with your username and password to access the records. To the extent you consider this a denial, pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/9.5(a) you may file a Request for Review with the Public Access Counselor (PAC) at: Public Access Counselor; Office of the Attorney General; 500 South 2nd Street; Springfield, IL 62706.  You also have the right to seek judicial review of your denial by filing a lawsuit in the State circuit court; 5 ILCS 140/11. If you have any questions, please contact our office at (773) 553-3500. Thank you for your request. Sincerely, Annie Righi Freedom of Information Act Officer Chicago Public Schools

--- Please respond above this line ---
06/12/2024 Miriam Bhimani
Dear Miriam: RE: Chicago Public Schools FOIA Request N015306-051924 Thank you again for using the Chicago Public Schools FOIA Center. We are writing regarding your Freedom of Information Act Request for the following records: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

1. A log of all emails to/from the CPS Ethics Officer, from May 1, 2024 - May 15, 2024. Please search all CPS email accounts as well as personal accounts used for public business. The log should include but not be limited to: sender, recipient(s), date and time, subject line, and attachment.

2. Calendars for Jennifer Chan, CPS Ethics Officer, from January 1, 2024 - the date this FOIA is processed.

3. Membership list of those on the CPS Ethics Committee as of the date this FOIA is processed.

Because this request is in the public interest for Illinois nonprofit The FOIA Bakery’s work to advocate for public education, please waive any fees in accordance with 5 ILCS § 140/6(c). Feel free to contact me with any questions, or if clarification is needed.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Miriam Bhimani

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) FOIA Office is writing to confirm receipt of your June 6, 2024, correspondence narrowing this request and to confirm that this request has been sufficiently narrowed. The CPS FOIA Office now seeks ten additional business days to process and respond to your narrowed request. If agreed, we will respond by end of business day Thursday, June 27, 2024 (due to the Wednesday, June 19, 2024 state holiday during which district offices are closed). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you, Annie Righi Freedom of Information Act Officer Chicago Public Schools

--- Please respond above this line ---
06/27/2024 Miriam Bhimani
Dear Miriam: RE: Chicago Public Schools FOIA Request N015306-051924 Thank you again for using the Chicago Public Schools FOIA Center. We are writing regarding your Freedom of Information Act Request for the following records: To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

1. A log of all emails to/from the CPS Ethics Officer, from May 1, 2024 - May 15, 2024. Please search all CPS email accounts as well as personal accounts used for public business. The log should include but not be limited to: sender, recipient(s), date and time, subject line, and attachment.

2. Calendars for Jennifer Chan, CPS Ethics Officer, from January 1, 2024 - the date this FOIA is processed.

3. Membership list of those on the CPS Ethics Committee as of the date this FOIA is processed.

Because this request is in the public interest for Illinois nonprofit The FOIA Bakery’s work to advocate for public education, please waive any fees in accordance with 5 ILCS § 140/6(c). Feel free to contact me with any questions, or if clarification is needed.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Miriam Bhimani

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/ The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) FOIA Office is seeking ten additional business days to respond to this request. If agreed, we will respond by end of business day Friday, July 12, 2024 (due to the the Thursday, July 4, 2024 state holiday during which district offices are closed). Please note that the CPS FOIA Office is still gathering and reviewing responsive documents and we are working diligently on fulfilling your request. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you, Annie Righi Freedom of Information Act Officer Chicago Public Schools