Niles Community Schools has indicated it will take the maximum time allowed by law to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Niles Daily Star regarding information believed to be related to recent closed session meetings held by the district’s board of education.

John Tanke, director of personnel, sent a letter to the Star dated Feb. 26 saying the district had received the FOIA request, which asked for records of complaints filed against people believed to be the subject of the closed meetings. The FOIA also requested records of discipline taken against the same people.

While law requires the district to answer the FOIA request within five days, the guidelines also allow the district to exercise an extension of 10 business days to respond. In the letter, Tanke said the district is implementing that right at this time, meaning the district will have to answer by March 17.

The Star emailed the FOIA request to the school district Feb. 25, one day after the school board met in closed session to review attorney/client privileged information.

The school board also entered closed session to discuss personnel matters during a special meeting Feb. 20. Another closed session by the board occurred Feb. 10 to discuss a complaint against an employee.

The board took no action after any of the closed sessions.

Board members and district officials have provided scant details about the nature of the closed sessions and have declined to divulge the names of personnel being discussed.

The only statement to come from the district in the past week was emailed to media outlets by the district’s public relations firm Tuesday. The firm said the statement could be attributed to Kathy Zeider, school board president.

It reads:

“The Niles Community Schools Board of Education continues to discuss a variety of personnel matters that are confidential at this time. When these matters are resolved, the board will communicate to the school community as appropriate. As many in our community may know, Dr. (Richard) Weigel (Niles’ superintendent) has been on sick time for the last few weeks. During Dr. Weigel’s absence, his duties are being divided among the central administration staff, with Director of Personnel John Tanke taking the lead. We appreciate the continued support of the school community as we strive to achieve our primary objective — improving student learning.”

The closed meetings have attracted a lot of attention from the public as at least 70 people attended the board’s meeting Feb. 24. The crowd was turned away from the door when the room reached capacity.