St. Charles D303 finalizing uncomfortable divorce with Norris Cultural Arts Center

An agreement to break ties between St. Charles Unit District 303 and the nonprofit organization that brings community performances to the Norris Cultural Arts Center is on the verge of becoming final. But not all school board members are comfortable with what may happen to trust fund money that helped run the center.

School board members approved an agreement to take over the building and full operation of the center in 2011. But because of the trust fund involved, a judge also needed to verify the divorce. The not-for-profit did not approve its version of the agreement until last month, finally triggering the judicial review. In the interim, the school board reached a separate agreement with the not-for-profit to continue allowing the use of the center for performances through June 2015.

The possibility of extending that agreement awaits the outcome of the breakup and resolving concerns about the remaining trust fund dollars. School board member Kathy Hewell said she is worried about how the money will be used because the nonprofit board that will now be in charge of the cash is inactive. Until the judge ratifies the agreements, the school board still has ultimate control over that undetermined amount of money. District staff members said during a recent meeting that the nonprofit board may be able to liquidate the trust dollars once it has full control.

"It gives me pause," Hewell told her fellow board members. "And knowing this group, it really gives me pause. I don't care about the money, necessarily. But now it's just being frittered away, maybe. I guess it's up to them to do it, but it's bothering me that it's happening during our watch. Obviously, they don't do anything over there. They have a couple of shows once in awhile. I just feel like I haven't done my duty to make sure this money is being used for the purposes this money was given."

District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann told Hewell there is no way to divorce the school district from the not-for-profit and still have a say in how the money is spent.

"When we started down this road we kind of said we don't care about the money," Schlomann said. "I don't want to change directions all of a sudden here. As far as the inactivity, I think they would have a different perspective on that."

The most recent listing of who sits on the not-for-profit's board of directors is from 2012. That listing indicates James Collins was the board president at the time. He is a member of the Norris-Collins-Baker family that originally donated the arts center building to the community. Collins could not be reached for comment, but his brother, John Collins, said James is still involved on the board.

"What it comes down to right now is the market for your entertainment dollar is pretty competitive," John Collins said. "The future of the center, it's in a state of flux."

School board members will receive an update on the separation agreement and a staff recommendation on how to handle any future use of the center by the nonprofit in February.