Lake Co. school board has reminder of breaking law for next 4 months

An illegal closed-door discussion that Prairie Crossing Charter School board members had wanted to keep secret instead will remain quite public for the next four months.

Board members at the Grayslake elementary school approved an agreement with the Lake County state's attorney's office to make public a transcript of the chatter that violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act on July 29.

Prairie Crossing's Web site will feature passages that violated the Open Meetings Act through April.

Board members agreed in October to the Open Meetings Act violation deal with the state's attorney's office. It isn't publicly known how the improper closed-door talk came to the attention of Lake County prosecutors.

Prairie Crossing Charter School board President Geoff Deigan said his colleagues receive a constant reminder of the violation each time they visit the Web site. He said no one intended to violate the Open Meetings Act.

"We're doing everything in our power to abide by those laws," Deigan said.

Under state law, school board members may hold private sessions to discuss student disciplinary cases, land purchases, litigation and personnel. Such talk outside of a public meeting room must stay centered on the allowed topics.

Prairie Crossing board members did not stay on a permitted topic at the July 29 meeting, according the finding by prosecutors.

Deigan said the board strayed from what it was allowed to discuss behind closed doors for about one minute of the 45-minute session. Some of the quotes in the transcript pertained to the board's relationship with the charter school community.

Dennis Munk, a former board member who couldn't be reached for comment, was quoted in the illegal discussion as saying officials should resolve that "we intend to treat community members with respect and we expect the same from community members."

Former Prairie Crossing board member Laura Elizabeth Fay criticized the Open Meetings Act violation. She said the board can't be allowed to duck from proper public discussion.

"The school is a public body," Fay said. "All of the operations are paid for with public tax dollars."