Herald Tribune inquiry reassigned
<span>The Randolph County Herald Tribune has learned that its Request for Review inquiry filed with the Public Access Bureau of the Illinois Attorney General's Office has been reassigned.</span>
<span>According to Public Access Counselor Sarah Pratt, the attorney assigned to the Herald Tribune's case, Assistant Attorney General Shari L. West, has been out of the office due to illness and the case will be reassigned.</span>
<span>Pratt did not know who would take the case, or when a determination letter would be sent.</span>
<span>"We receive 400 new requests for review every month," she told the Herald Tribune. "And we have 11 attorneys."</span>
<span>Pratt then told the newspaper that her office would get to the inquiry - which was previously described as "pending" - "as soon as we can."</span>
<span>In its Request for Review, filed electronically on Feb. 19, the Herald Tribune alleged, in part, that the Chester District 139 Board of Education violated the Open Meetings Act by holding discussions that should have been public during the closed session portions of its Jan. 21 and Feb. 18 meetings.</span>
<span>In a letter dated March 4, the school board sent its response to West, including a copy of the agendas for both meetings and the minutes for both the open and closed sessions of those meetings.</span>
<span>Interim Superintendent Rick Goodman further notified West that the verbatim recordings of the closed sessions would be sent by certified mail only.</span>
<span>The Herald Tribune was given a seven-day deadline to respond, if it chose, to the board's reply.</span>
<span>The newspaper was advised by West that since the board's response contained nothing but the documents mentioned, there was not much for the newspaper to respond to.</span>
<span>"(The board's) response really didn't make any substantial arguments," West said in previous statements to the Herald Tribune. "The response didn't contain any more information other than providing the documents."</span>
<span>The Herald Tribune will have further updates as they become available.</span>