District 54 wins transparency award
Posted by Terri McHugh on Friday, March 9th, 2012 at 11:43 am
The School District 54 website has won a Sunny Award from the editors of Sunshine Review, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency.
The award, which honors the most transparent government websites in the nation, was presented on March 8 to only 214 of the more than 6,000 government websites ranked by Sunshine Review. The editors graded each site on a 10-point transparency checklist. Editors looked at content available on government websites against what should be provided. They sought information on items such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes. The winners of the Sunny Award all received an “A” grade during the extensive grading process.
“District 54 knows the importance of promoting transparency in everything we do,” Superintendent Ed Rafferty said. “We are honored to receive a Sunny Award and will continue to keep citizens informed on the actions their school district is taking on their behalf.”
“The Sunny Awards recognizes governments/school districts that are doing an exemplary job at proactively disclosing information to taxpayers,” said Michael Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review. “We would like to congratulate District 54 for being a champion for transparency and serving as a leader to every state and local government around the nation.”
The Sunny Awards announcement preludes the launch of “Sunshine Week,” March 11-17, a period nationally recognized by hundreds of media and civic organizations, that celebrates the strides taken towards open government.