Superintendent: Minutes from Closed Session Board Meetings Accidentally Posted to District 113A Website

Updated: July 19, 10:30 a.m.

Confidential documents were "accidentally" posted to the website over the weekend, revealing discussions had by the board of education in closed session.

District 113A Superintendent Susan Birkenmaier confirmed that the minutes from 10 closed session meetings from July 2011 through January 2012 were posted online for an unknown amount of time as part of the agenda for the board's monthly business meeting Tuesday.

The documents were up for discussion as part of the board's semi-annual review of closed session minutes, but were not meant to be released to the public, Birkenmaier said.

"It was an unfortunate mistake," she said. "We're looking into what happened, but at this point it appears the documents were posted by accident."

Birkenmaier said the mistake was brought to her attention Monday morning by a staff member. She then notified the school board and began looking into who or what caused the error.

It's not yet known how many people viewed the documents, she said.

"The documents were immediately removed once we realized what happened," Birkenmaier said. "Based on the information we have, we think they were probably posted Sunday afternoon or evening."

Birkenmaier and District 113A Board President Dave Molitor confirmed reports that the minutes reflected closed session discussions on the superintendent hiring process and the resignation of former Superintendent Tim Ricker in December.

An article by Suburban Life Publications outlined possible violations of the Open Meetings Act during the board's discussion of the superintendent search on Dec. 20 and Jan. 11.

District 113A board members before voting to name Asst. Superintendent Mary Gricus the lead administrator for the remainder of the 2011-12 school year.

Then president Mike Aurelio told Patch that three candidates were interviewed for the interim superintendent position during that closed session. The board on Jan. 24.

Molitor declined to comment on specific closed session discussions, but said he is unaware of any violations.

"I believe everything we discussed in closed session was valid and appropriate under the law," he said.

On Thursday morning, Birkenmaier said she has yet to be contacted by anyone outside of the media regarding potential violations of the Open Meetings Act.

The District 113A board voted 4-1 on Tuesday not to release the documents, which Molitor said "has been standard practice for the board in the past."

Board Member Al Malley cast the dissenting vote. Board members Mike Aurelio and Karen Siston were absent.

On Wednesday, Malley said there were certain documents he thought should be released to the public.

"It is my opinion that some of the discussion contained in the minutes is obsolete at this point," Malley said. "I felt that it would be appropriate to release some of that to the public."

According to the Open Meetings Act, public bodies are required to review closed meeting minutes no less than semi-annually. During those meetings, the public body must determine whether a "need for confidentiality still exists as to all or part of those minutes," or if "the minutes or portions thereof no longer require confidential treatment and are available for public consumption."

Malley said he noticed the documents attached to the meeting agenda on Sunday evening, but did not open them to realize what was there.

When asked if the incident influenced his vote to release the documents, Malley said, "It's fair to say that was part of it."

As of Thursday, Birkenmaier was still investigating how the documents came to be posted online. She said the administration is unaware of any legal action or consequences that could arise as a result of incident.

"This is obviously a very serious matter, but we are taking the proper steps to deal with it and make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.

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