How Closed Are Hinsdale D86 Board Meetings?

HINSDALE, IL – The board for Hinsdale High School District 86 spent nearly 30 percent of its time in closed meetings over the last year.

According to a Patch analysis of meeting minutes, 29 percent of the 47 hours of meetings were held behind closed doors. (The minutes of the last four sessions were not available.) That compares to 28 percent for the Lyons Township High School board.

The Elmhurst school board was on the high end, with at least 43 percent of its time spent in closed sessions. It was likely much higher because the board's minutes did not document the length of six such meetings.

School boards typically spend more time in closed sessions than their municipal counterparts.

In the last year, the Hinsdale Village Board held three closed meetings. The meeting minutes don't document their length.

Under the state's Open Meetings Act, public bodies are only allowed to meet in closed session for limited purposes. Among them are discussions about specific personnel, union negotiations, the sale of real estate, private student matters and litigation.

Under the law, a majority of a public body's members cannot meet to discuss public business outside an advertised meeting.

The attorney general handles complaints about violations of the open meetings law.

In 2023, the Hinsdale High School District 86 board decided behind closed doors to suspend the superintendent. Patch filed a complaint, contending the action should have been taken publicly. A year later, the attorney general sided with Patch.

In 2022 and 2023, the Lyons Township High School board met repeatedly in closed session about selling its land in Willow Springs to an industrial developer. When that became apparent, residents complained. The attorney general found the board broke state law. In response, the board released the closed session recordings.

In 2019, the Elmhurst school board violated state law when it held a closed session to discuss its contentious negotiations with the city of Elmhurst for an agreement over stormwater projects and tax increment financing districts.

A year earlier, the board talked about an administrative reorganization behind closed doors. That, too, broke state law.

The attorney general's findings in both cases were in response to complaints from a watchdog, Edgar Pal.

Pal also got a favorable ruling from the attorney general when he complained that the Elmhurst City Council broke state law when it discussed a nursing home's special use permit in closed session.