Public Information

The Northwestern Illinois Association (NIA) is a regional special education cooperative organized pursuant to The School Code of Illinois for the purpose of providing special education services to students with disabilities, ages birth through 21 inclusive, who reside in the 10 most northwestern counties of Illinois: Boone, Carroll, De Kalb, Jo Daviess, Kane, Lee, Ogle, Whiteside, Winnebago and Stephenson. Sycamore School District 427 serves as administrative district for NIA.

A request to inspect or copy records shall be made in writing and should be submitted to the designated NIA’s Freedom of Information Officers via personal delivery, mail, electronic mail (e-mail), telefax, or other means available to NIA. In the event that a written request is submitted to another officer or employee of NIA, the request shall be immediately forwarded to the Freedom of Information Officers.

The request must specify the particular record(s) to be inspected or copied and may include a request for certification of a copy of a record. The NIA shall not require the request to specify its purpose, except to determine whether the request is for commercial purposes or whether to grant a request for a fee waiver.

No fees shall be charged for the first fifty (50) pages of black and white letter or legal size copies. Thereafter, a fee of $.15 per page may be charged for copying black and white letter or legal-size documents. If the NIA provides copies in color or in a size other than letter or legal, the fees shall be the actual cost incurred in reproducing for non-standardized documents. The NIA shall charge $1.00 per document for certification of records. No charge shall be made for staff time spent searching for or reviewing records or other personnel costs associated with reproducing the records.