Elmhurst District 205 settles lawsuit, releases recording of closed session

Roughly 18 months after the school board held a closed-door session to discuss a proposed administrative reorganization, Elmhurst Unit District 205 has released audio from the meeting to settle a lawsuit brought by a former resident.

School board members voted unanimously Tuesday to make available part of the recording of a closed session meeting that was held June 19, 2018. A redacted transcript and minutes of the meeting also have been released.

Former Elmhurst resident Edgar Pal sought the records after the Illinois Attorney General's office issued a nonbinding opinion saying the state's Open Meetings Act was violated during the 2018 meeting.

"I'm glad we were able to resolve this," said Pal, who now lives elsewhere in DuPage County. "I just wish this had been done earlier."

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. The office asked the school board to release a 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 in June to obtain the recording.

"You have to sue within 60 days of a nonbinding opinion," Pal said. "My time was running out, and the school district still hadn't taken any action. So that's why I filed in court."

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 June 2018 discussion, District 205 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," the opinion reads.

District 205 spokeswoman Beverly Redmond said the district's settlement with Pal was finalized Dec. 11. As part of the settlement, the district's attorneys will pay $4,000 for Pal's legal fees.

Meanwhile, Redmond said the school board "remains very sensitive to, and observant of, the Open Meetings Act."