District 214 finally approves controversial March minutes

After adding a paragraph, the District 214 school board finally approved meeting minutes that were almost a month old on Thursday.

Board member Alva Kreutzer abstained last time, but she said she was ready to vote this week after listening to a recording of the March 6 meeting.

"It was what was said," Kreutzer said of controversial remarks some members had wanted struck from the minutes. She also read the First Amendment before voting.

The meeting minutes had been in limbo since March 20 when some members refused to approve them.

The board deadlocked 3-3 with Bill Dussling, Robert Zimmanck and Miriam "Mimi" Cooper voting not to approve them. Leslie Pinney, along with board members Lenore Gonzales Bragaw and Jim Perkins, voted to approve the minutes. Kreutzer abstained because she wasn't at the March 6 meeting.

At that meeting, Pinney had said it didn't appear proper to accept a bid from a local car dealership who had made campaign contributions to some District 214 candidates. At the next meeting, Dussling said Pinney's comments were improper and asked her to withdraw them from the minutes.

She refused.

Pinney had inquired into a District 214 contract to purchase five vans from an Arlington Heights car dealership -- the only dealership to return a bid for the vehicles. An officer of the dealership had contributed $500 to the re-election campaign of Dussling, Kreutzer and Zimmanck.

Pinney has been on the District 214 school board almost three years since she beat an incumbent by about 400 votes.

In April 2007, the Dussling, Kreutzer and Zimmanck slate coasted to re-election, using Pinney's 2006 attempt to yank some texts she found objectionable from required reading lists to help fuel their campaign.

On Thursday the school board -- including Pinney -- unanimously approved the new minutes after Kreutzer added the following paragraph:

"When asked if Ms. Pinney was suggesting that the contract was awarded because of a campaign contribution, she answered that she was not suggesting that, that the bid was very reasonable and that nothing was done outside the school code."

Cooper said the added paragraph made a big difference, which is why she changed her vote.

"I didn't feel the minutes were accurate, but now I'm satisfied," Cooper said.

While Pinney approved the revised minutes, she wanted more notice.

"I would like this to be done before the meeting so that I can come prepared," Pinney said.