Lyons Township High Misled Public In 2022

LA GRANGE, IL – Top Lyons Township High School officials had a chance to tell the truth about a proposed land sale in 2022.

Instead, they misled the public.

This likely would not be known without the release of closed-session recordings. The attorney general's office requested such openness after it found the board repeatedly violated the state's open meetings law.

During a Dec. 5, 2022, open meeting, the board discussed a consultant's enrollment study. (Members talked about the study in closed session two months earlier, which violated the meetings law.)

At the end of the discussion, consultant Patrick Howell asked about the board's planned sale of 70 acres, which the school announced a week earlier.

He asked whether any developers had given plans on the type of housing and number of housing units, which could affect the school's enrollment.

Responded Superintendent Brian Waterman, "No, the board is discussing that moving forward."

Then-board President Kari Dillon added, "Yeah, we haven't discussed that at all."

Neither official's statement was true.

Despite that, none of the other board members – Jill Grech, Dawn Aubert, Julie Swinehart, Jill Beda Daniels, Michael Thomas or Alison Kelly – corrected the record. They stayed silent.

At that point, for more than seven months, the board had spent hours behind closed doors discussing the plans for the land in Willow Springs. These talks were prompted by an industrial developer's secret offer of $65 million.

During the discussions, officials said it was important to keep the plan for industrial uses under wraps. They said they expected a backlash from neighbors to the land, which is next to houses and an elementary school.

From the first closed session in April 2022, board members were told the school would get a lot more money if it sold the land for industrial uses, rather than residential.

On Nov. 30, 2022, the board issued a public statement announcing its intention to sell the land. The board promised to be open with the public. But it did not tell residents about the $65 million offer or its intention to focus on industrial uses.

Residents caught on to the board's plan in January 2023, when two industrial bidders came forward. As expected, residents opposed the sale to an industrial developer.

Willow Springs' zoning bars industrial uses for the property in question. But school officials believed they would get an exception. Willow Springs made clear it would not happen.