Elmhurst resident sues District 205 to force release of school board recording

One year after Elmhurst Unit District 205 school board members gathered behind closed doors to talk about a proposed administrative reorganization, a resident wants a DuPage County judge to compel the panel to release audio from that meeting.

Edgar Pal says he believes the school board violated the state's Open Meetings Act on June 19, 2018, when it held the executive session. So he asked the Illinois attorney general's office to get involved.

After reviewing what happened during the 34-minute meeting, the attorney general's public access counselor issued an opinion in April saying there was a violation. In addition, the office asked the board to give Pal - and make publicly available - a verbatim recording of the moments when the closed-door discussion went beyond what is allowed by law.

But the opinion is nonbinding, so Pal says he was forced to file a lawsuit to obtain the recording.

"Two months had passed, and the school board did not release the recording," Pal said.

The ligation had to be filed within 60 days of the release of the opinion. With the deadline looming, Pal filed the complaint on June 20.

"I want to see the records released," he said. "I also just want the school board to recognize they need to comply with the law."

In Illinois, government bodies are allowed to discuss the "appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance or dismissal of specific employees" during a closed session.

During their discussion last year, board members talked about individual district employees "and the merits of their performance, compensation, and the status of their employment," according to the opinion from the attorney general's office.

While that was allowed, other topics that were discussed weren't, according to the opinion. The board, for example, talked about "the title of a prospective position and structural and financial comparisons to other school districts."

"Those portions of the board's closed session discussion violated OMA by exceeding the scope of the ... exception," the opinion reads.

District 205 spokeswoman Beverly Redmond said in a written statement that attorneys for the district were in the process of reviewing the nonbinding opinion and the recording when the lawsuit was filed.

Now she says the district's attorneys are reviewing Pal's lawsuit, which is seeking the recording and payment of his attorneys' fees.

"While the board continues to believe that the entire discussion was properly held in closed session, it will seek to dispose of the lawsuit in a principled and cost-conscience manner," Redmond said.

Pal said his goal is for the public to know what the school board "improperly discussed" in closed session.

"Even if they (school board members) don't want to acknowledge it," Pal said, "I just want them to admit that it happened."