I’ve been trying to find out if Huntley School District 158 Superintendent John Burkey takes his vacation.
The article you see is what piqued my interest. It said Burkey was in China for eight days. It sparked this article:
Burkey gets a full month (20 work days) of vacation each year, “exclusive of weekends and legal holidays,” according to his contra
It seems to me a reasonable question to ask and get an answer as to whether he was “working” on the taxpayers’ dime for his junket (for which the district paid only registration) or on an officially recognized vacation, that is, using up some of his 20 days of vacation.
When I first asked, this was the result:
Don’t Need to Know If Superintendent
Took Vacation Days While on China Junket
I rephrased my question to ask how many days vacation Burkey took in FY09 and FY10.
The reply came recently:
“In response to the number of vacation days taken each month in FY09 and FY10:
Information on how specific days by District employees are accounted for is exempt from disclosure per 5ILCS 140, Section 7(b, “information, that, if disclosed, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy…”
So, taxpayers.
You don’t have a right to know if your school superintendent used up any vacation days in June to visit China or wherever.
If your appeal of the FOIA denial doesn't get you this information, go to the Illinois Attorney General's office and its special body that investigates denials of FOIA requests. Now the question is not WHETHER he used vacation days for his trip, but the question is how many days there were NOT vacation days. There is no invasion of privacy.