MHS Superintendent Jody Ware’s statement

Mundelein High School District 120 Superintendent Jody Ware’s full statement about the Open Meetings Act inquiry:

“The Mundelein High School Board of Education had no intention to violate the Open Meetings Act by not making the location of the Turf Analysis site convenient to the public (OMA Section 2.01). But rather, out of respect for the best interests of the local taxpayers who approved the Spring, 2011 referendum, it was decided to evaluate each turf bidder’s product, installation, and maintenance requirements by visiting a site in Illinois. By visiting five different sites with five different turf products, the committee was able to select the best quality and most cost effective turf product for the Mundelein High School Stadium. The sites were visited by a turf evaluation team made up of three board members, business manager, and architect during a time frame of September 10th through September 21st, 2011. As commended in the briefing from the Attorney General’s office, the district posted the meeting dates, locations and offered to provide transportation for the public to participate in each visit. The sites visited included: Western Illinois University, Warren High School, Hinsdale South High School, Downers Grove High School, and Wheeling High School. Western Illinois University, located in Macomb, was the only site in Illinois with the Hallas turf product.

The Mundelein Board of Education agrees with the Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney, Dan Jasica, who was quoted in the Daily Herald’s article of September 21 stating that, “You can’t bring the Macomb artificial turf to Mundelein.”

“In the future, the Mundelein Board of Education will take on such tasks that involves travel outside of the area with a smaller Board of Education committee.”