State's Attorney: Boundary Committee Subject to Open Meetings Act

board members and administrators are not happy with a recent opinion by Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis that upcoming Boundary Committee meetings should be subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

The matter was addressed at Monday night’s board meeting during a progress report on the committee by Associate Superintendent Todd Colvin. Colvin said staff members were not pleased with Weis’ opinion, and some board members agreed.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Weis said he based his opinion on case law and a similar judgment he made in 2009 regarding a district overcrowding committee. That earlier opinion was reached with extensive consultation of the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.

“As with the Overcrowding Committee, this committee will be making recommendations to the Board regarding a matter of public concern, it has received some direction from the board itself as to its purpose and scope, it is not addressing an internal or sensitive matter for which the public should be excluded, and it was created at the request of the board and will ultimately report back its findings to the board,” Weis wrote in an email to Superintendent Dan O’Donnell.

Made up of 45 resident volunteers, the Boundary Committee will begin meeting in the coming weeks to redraw attendance boundaries in an effort to ease overcrowding at several schools.

Board member Dave Behrens was unsatisfied by Weis’ conclusion and encouraged the administration to seek another opinion from the state. He said he has no interest in keeping the process from the public and public forums will be planned when new boundary scenarios are determined.

"It's not that I want to keep the public out of it," he said. "In fact, the public will be very much a part of it. These committee members just need to be able to speak freely and bounce ideas around without angering their neighbors or the community. ... They didn't sign up for this committee to be vilified."

Committee meetings will include extensive sensitive dialogue that might not be included in the final determinations and the reporting of such hypothetical talks could only make the process more difficult, Behrens said.

Board members directed O’Donnell to contact Weis’ office again for further clarification, and if he is unsuccessful, to contact the Public Access Counselor’s office with the Illinois Attorney General’s office.

As for the new boundaries, Colvin said he hopes the process will be completed by March 1. But before any talks can begin, the board must determine if Murphy Junior High in Plainfield will be opened next year.

Colvin has said Bednarcik Junior High will be 300 students over capacity next year, and is also overcrowded. Opening Murphy, which will cost the district an estimated $800,000, should mitigate those issues.

Board members again expressed concern about the price tag of opening the school with Alison Swanson asking Colvin to provide scenarios to help with overcrowding that didn’t include opening Murphy.

“I want to hear all the options,” she said.

Colvin said he will report back with those options.