Malverne Board of Ed fails to comply with FOIL requests

Freedom of information is a journalist’s most cherished freedom, for without it, truth can be obscured and the public kept in the dark. Among journalists’s most commonly used tools is the Freedom of Information Law, which requires municipal departments, boards, bureaus, committees, authorities and governmental entities to disclose records to those who properly file requests for information. Anyone can make such a request.       

Gina Genti, a Malverne Board of Education trustee, did make such a request. In fact, she made 14 FOIL requests to the board through District Clerk Lisa Ridley, some in September and others in October, and has only been granted two; the district does not have records for two of the documents and has not yet addressed the remaining 10. Genti said she has been patient and understanding, but the board’s failure to comply with a FOIL requirement — provide a specific date by which she will receive the requested documents — has pushed her to the edge of frustration.

“The Board of Education’s response repeatedly has been that gathering the information takes time,” Genti told the Herald. “My concern is as a representative of the district and as a taxpayer. There are legal requirements to fulfilling FOIL requests that have not been adhered.”

When asked about her frustrations, Genti went on to say that her feelings about the matter are irrelevant. “This is not about emotion,” she said. “This is about basic taxpayer rights and the ability to fulfill lawful requirements.”

The Herald asked Ridley about her failure, and thus the board’s, to comply with the time requirement, and she maintained that she has complied by informing Genti that she is working to gather all of the documents and that is why she cannot provide a specific date on which Genti will receive them. But that’s not good enough, according to Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government.