Lyons Township High Leader May Get 5-Year Deal

LA GRANGE, IL – The Lyons Township High School board is set to vote Monday on a five-year contract for Superintendent Brian Waterman, who started in 2021.

In a memo, board President Jill Grech said the board drafted the contract with guidance from its "recently retained counsel."

She said Waterman had met the performance and improvement goals outlined in his contract.

For the time being, the board is keeping the contract secret from the public. On Monday morning, Patch filed a public records request for it.

Patch left a message for comment Saturday with the school's spokeswoman about whether the public was allowed to see the document before the board's vote.

The seven-member board is voting on the contract in its final days before three new members are set to take office. The terms for Grech and members Michael Thomas and Paula Struwing are expiring.

Two years ago, the board extended Waterman's contract to 2028. As of last budget year, Waterman's salary was $254,616.

Waterman succeeded Timothy Kilrea, who made $304,000 when he retired in 2021 after a decade at the helm.

Waterman was the high school's principal when he was named its superintendent. He originally received a four-year contract as superintendent.

It was unclear which law firm advised the board on the contract.

In August 2023, the board hired Itasca-based Hodges Loizzi and Oakbrook Terrace-based Kriha Boucek. That was after it let go its long-term firm, Chicago-based Franczek.

The ouster followed the board's 10 months of closed-door meetings to sell its Willow Springs land to an industrial developer. The attorney general found the meetings violated the state's open meetings law.

In the first closed session, Waterman called for secrecy, saying he expected backlash over selling the land next to houses and an elementary school for industrial uses.

Waterman was right: When the truth came out, the backlash happened. The board abandoned the project a couple of months later.