Lake County Gazette

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was sent to the Woodland Community Consolidated School District 50 regarding emails and memos dated from the past year. The request, which was made by us at the Lake County Gazette on January 28, 2025, specifically asked for documents containing the keywords "Lucy Calkins" and "Units of Study".

As a media organization dedicated to comprehensive and accurate news coverage on local governmental affairs, we believe access to these public records is essential in fulfilling our professional responsibilities. These include holding public institutions accountable and providing transparency to the public.

In our request, we highlighted our role as a media entity involved in gathering and reporting news to the public. Given this role, we believe we are eligible for a fee waiver as a media professional.

According to the Illinois Report Card, the average state teacher salary in 2023 was $73,916, and the state average Administrative Salary was $116,908. The average student-to-administrative ratio is 141:1, and the average student-to-teacher ratio is 17:1. It's also worth noting that 58% of teachers in Illinois have a master's degree or higher.

We await response from Woodland Community Consolidated School District 50 regarding our FOIA request. We continue to strive for transparency and accountability in our reporting on local government affairs.