Lyons Township High Board Shuts Doors To Talk Land Price

LA GRANGE, IL – The Lyons Township High School board met behind closed doors Monday to discuss setting the price for its Willow Springs land.

The session lasted half an hour, with the school's lawyer present, a school spokeswoman told Patch

No decisions were made afterward.

This is the third closed meeting over the summer about the 70 acres of wooded land, which the school bought more than six decades ago.

The first meeting was held June 2, lasting almost half an hour. Members also met behind closed doors for more than an hour two weeks ago. That session included a discussion about union negotiations.

The June meeting was the first closed meeting about the Willow Springs land in more than two years, according to public records.

In 2022 and early 2023, the board met repeatedly behind closed doors about the Willow Springs property, which is next to houses and an elementary school.

But members talked about issues far beyond setting the price, violating the state's open meetings law.

Their secret goal was to sell the land to an industrial developer, but Willow Springs zoning rules banned industrial uses in that area.

Some of the closed meetings were to strategize about how to keep the plan secret from the elementary school and other public bodies for as long as possible.

In January 2023, two industrial developers bid on the land. In the following weeks, the public learned that the board priced the land for industrial uses.

Neighbors and other public bodies protested, prompting the board to abandon its plan shortly before a board election. Residents filed a complaint with the attorney general, alleging the board broke the Open Meetings Act.

In spring 2023, the attorney general agreed and ordered the school to release two recordings. A year later, the agency requested the release of all the others. The school board did.