Dist. 300 errs in boundary meeting notice

When it came time to make perhaps the most important decision the Community Unit District 300 school board will face this year, some parents were left out.

On the district's Web site and in a posting on the administration building, where Saturday's work session on middle and high school attendance boundaries was held, the meeting was described as a "closed work session" -- meaning it was not open to the public.

But the work session was not closed, and at least 20 members of the public and the media attended.

Also, the notice posted on the building said the meeting would start at 8:30 p.m., while the online post reflected the actual start time of 8:30 a.m.

Superintendent Ken Arndt apologized Monday for the incorrect notices.

"We messed up. I didn't realize it was posted that way," Arndt said. "It certainly was no one's intention to close anybody out."

District officials said they didn't think many parents were deterred by the posting.

"It was a simple human clerical error, and everybody else found their way inside," board President Joe Stevens said. "We had announced at multiple board meetings that it was an open meeting."

The impact of the incorrect notices was probably minimal, as the post on the building was dated Jan. 18, just a day before the meeting.

The Illinois Open Meetings Act requires notice to be posted on a public body's central office at least 48 hours before the meeting.

Dozens of District 300 parents have attended public meetings during the past month to offer their opinions on the boundary proposals.

Saturday, the board settled on proposal 3 for high school boundaries and proposal 10 for the middle schools.

Proposal 3 would move about 300 kids from Jacobs High School to the new Hampshire High School and shift about 90 kids from Dundee-Crown to Jacobs.

Proposal 10 would move about 115 students from Dundee Middle School to Hampshire Middle School.

Board members also endorsed the idea of grandfathering, saying current high school students and seventh-graders should be allowed to stay at their schools.

The board is scheduled to vote on the attendance boundaries at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the administration building, 300 Cleveland Ave, Carpentersville.

You can view the boundary proposals online at www.d300.org/web/attendanceboundarycommittee.html.