Special meetings on Dist. 200 superintendent continue

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 school board members are no closer to silencing rumors about Superintendent Richard Drury's possible removal than they were before a marathon meeting on Wednesday night.

School board President Andy Johnson and others refused to comment after meeting behind closed doors for more than three hours. Johnson only said that another special meeting will be held sometime next week.

Drury, who was at the district headquarters when Wednesday night's meeting was taking place, apparently left the building by the time the board came out of the closed session.

Drury didn't sit in the meeting with the board. The district's lawyers were seen going back and forth between the office where Drury was waiting and the area where the board was meeting.

Even though Drury was granted a one-year contract extension in July, rumors about his future with the district started circulating after he didn't attend a Sept. 23 board meeting. Drury has been superintendent for more than two years.

Despite widespread speculation that Drury had left or was leaving the district, officials repeatedly said he was "on vacation."

Earlier this week, board members said Drury came into work Sept. 21 and started a vacation the next day.

Johnson said last week that if the board members were dissatisfied with Drury in July, they wouldn't have extended his contract.

"At the time, we were going through the extensions of the other administrators," Johnson said on Oct. 1. "And it just kind of kept things moving in that direction where everybody knew who was going to be around for a while."

Several parents who attended Wednesday's meeting said they simply want to know what's going on.

"If he was released for no cause, then why did you renew his contract?" parent Mark Kmiecik told the board before the closed session. "I am a taxpayer. I don't want to see the money being wasted with these kinds of decisions."

As part of his contract, if Drury is terminated without cause, the district must pay him his $208,000 salary and extend his benefits for one year.

Drury replaced former Superintendent Gary Catalani who retired in June 2007.

Before joining the district in July 2007, Drury was the superintendent of the Muskego-Norway School District in Wisconsin's Racine County.