Selective Enrollment High School First Round Offers

Dear Forest:

Thank you for your interest in Chicago Public Schools. Your FOIA request has been received and is being processed. Your FOIA Center reference number for tracking purposes is: N011356-062622
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:

For the following selective enrollment high schools and programs:

* PAYTON HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* LANE TECH HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* NORTHSIDE PREP HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* BROOKS HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* KING HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* LINDBLOM HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* WESTINGHOUSE HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* SOUTH SHORE INTL HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* HANCOCK HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* JONES HS - Selective Enrollment High School
* YOUNG HS - Selective Enrollment High School

please provide records sufficient to show the following information about the students who received a first-round offer in GoCPS for the 2021-2011 school year.

* the selective enrollment program making the offer
* the Tier of the student
* the academic point score of the student with the SEHS test component
* the reason for the offer. i.e. because of the rank allocation, tier allocation, principal discretion, etc.

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,

Forest Gregg

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.
If further time is needed to assemble and copy all documents responsive to your FOIA request, we will contact you with a time estimate and a request to extend.
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.

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06/27/2022

Forest Gregg
MuckRock News, DEPT MR130758 263 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02115

Dear Forest:

RE: Chicago Public Schools FOIA Request N011356-062622
Thank you again for using the Chicago Public Schools FOIA Center.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, a public body may extend the time to respond to a FOIA request by up to 5 business days for a limited number of reasons. 5 ILCS 140/3(e).
We are extending the time to respond to your request by 5 business days for one or more of the following reason(s):
(  ) the requested records are stored in whole or in part at other locations than the office having charge of the requested records;
( )  the request requires the collection of a substantial number of specified records;
( ) the request is couched in categorical terms and requires an extensive search for the records responsive to it;
( ) the requested records have not been located in the course of routine search and additional efforts are being made to locate them;
(  ) the requested records require examination and evaluation by personnel having the necessary competence and discretion to determine if they are exempt from disclosure under Section 7 of this Act or should be revealed only with appropriate deletions;
(x) the request for records cannot be complied with by the public body within the time limits prescribed by 5 ILCS 140/3 (c) without unduly burdening or interfering with the operations of the public body;
( ) there is need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another public body or among two or more components of a public body having a substantial interest in the determination or in the subject matter of the request
Sincerely,

Annie Righi
FOIA Officer
Chicago Public Schools

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July 12, 2022 Forest Gregg requests@muckrock.com
RE: Chicago Public Schools FOIA Request N011356-062622
Dear Mr. Gregg: 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: For the following selective enrollment high schools and programs: * PAYTON HS - Selective Enrollment High School * LANE TECH HS - Selective Enrollment High School * NORTHSIDE PREP HS - Selective Enrollment High School * BROOKS HS - Selective Enrollment High School * KING HS - Selective Enrollment High School * LINDBLOM HS - Selective Enrollment High School * WESTINGHOUSE HS - Selective Enrollment High School * SOUTH SHORE INTL HS - Selective Enrollment High School * HANCOCK HS - Selective Enrollment High School * JONES HS - Selective Enrollment High School * YOUNG HS - Selective Enrollment High School please provide records sufficient to show the following information about the students who received a first-round offer in GoCPS for the 2021-2011 school year. * the selective enrollment program making the offer * the Tier of the student * the academic point score of the student with the SEHS test component * the reason for the offer. i.e. because of the rank allocation, tier allocation, principal discretion, etc. The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes. RESPONSE : The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) FOIA Office has reviewed your request and determined that it fails to cite an existing public record for review. The CPS does not maintain, in any one record or database, all the data points that you seek. Note that the CPS does not comprehensively track “the reason for the offer” . In order to respond to this request, the district would be required to first pull the requested offer, point score, and tier data from one source. Then, original research would have to be conducted in order to determine the reason for each offer. From there, this data would have to manually combined into a new report that is not maintained in the normal course of business, outside the scope of the FOIA . Furthermore, providing the reason for the offer with the other data points sought in this request likely constitutes identifiable student information, which is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. However, you may wish to refer to the records released in response to your prior FOIA requests N011266-060622 and N011265-060622 which contain the offer, point score, and tier information sought in this request. The requirements of the FOIA apply to public records “having been prepared by or for, or having been or being used by, received by, or in the possession of, or under the control of any public body.” [5 ILCS 140/2(c)]  Accordingly, and as determined in Kenyon v. Garrels, 184 Ill. App. 3d 28,32 (4 th Dist. 1989), the FOIA applies to the provision of existing public records; a public body is not required to answer questions or generate new records in response to a FOIA request.  Additionally, a FOIA request must reasonably identify a record(s) for review and not “a general request for data, information and statistics to be gleaned generally from documents which have not been created and which the agency does not generally create or require.” [ Kenyon v. Garrels, 184 Ill. App. 3d 28,32 (4 th Dist. 1989)]. Additionally, “A requester is entitled only to records that an agency has in fact chosen to create and retain.” [ Yeager v. Drug Enforcement Admin., 678 F. 2d 315, 321 (D.C. Cir. 1922)] Additionally, Section 1 of the FOIA states in part: "This Act is not intended to create an obligation on the part of any public body to maintain or prepare any public record which was not maintained or prepared by such public body at the time when this Act becomes effective, except as otherwise required by applicable local, State or federal law." In accordance with Section 1 of Illinois FOIA, the District is not required to conduct research to answer questions in response to a specific query [5 ILCS 140/1]. Pursuant to 5 ILCS 140/8.5 (a), “a public body is not required to copy a public record that is published on the public body's website.” Additionally, personally identifiable student record information is exempt from release under the FOIA in accordance with the Illinois School Student Records Act 105 ILCS 10/1 et seq. and the corresponding Section 7.5(r) FOIA exemption (5 ILCS 140/7.5(r)). This includes school-level records, which include instances in which there are groups of fewer than ten students and would therefore unavoidably reveal identifiable student information. 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