The Hinsdale High School District 86 Board has revised its policies on the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act to shift responsibility from the superintendent to the board president.
At their Oct. 9 meeting, board members held a first read of board policies 2:200 and 2:250, which give the board president power to designate employees for OMA training and choose an FOIA officer, respectively, duties previously assigned solely to the superintendent.
Board member Peggy James, the board’s policy committee chair, suggested the policies were modified to clarify where that authority should rest.
“The committee discussed revisions to these policies to align them regarding the ability of the board president, as head of the public body, to designate employees to complete Open Meeting Act training and to appoint a FOIA officer,” James said.
Board member Terri Walker, however, questioned why the changes were necessary, particularly regarding policy 2:250
“Why are we changing it now from the superintendent to the board president naming the FOIA officer?” she asked.
Board President Cat Greenspon commented that the change better protects the person filling FOIA requests from undue influence applied by administrators or board members.
“The only employee involved with the filling of FOIAs — specifically gathering the FOIA materials — is our chief FOIA officer and they work directly with (our law firm),” Greenspon said. “The board should not be involved. The administration should not be involved, except for articulating, collecting the materials and turning them into the FOIA office or legal.”
Superintendent Mike Lach said having that separation is important.
“I don’t want people to get the wrong impression that myself or anyone on my team has their thumb on the scale about what gets released or doesn’t get released,” he said. “That’s up to the FOIA officer and the attorneys.
“Fundamentally, in the best interests of the district, the superintendent should not be the chief FOIA officer,” Greenspon added.
During the public comment period at the start of the meeting, resident Yvonne Mayer said the changes seemed simply designed to give the board president greater authority.
“These are just, in the opinion of myself and others in the community who asked me to speak tonight, power plays just to try to make a point that the board president has more powers than the superintendent,” Mayer said.
Board member Asma Akhras asked for confirmation that the new language in the OMA policy, which allows the superintendent to also select employees for OMA training, promotes power sharing.
“So we’re seeing here checks and balances between our board president and the superintendent, am I accurate in understanding the language here?” Akhras asked.
“That is correct,” James replied. “I’m just making sure that we’re dotting our i’s, crossing our t’s and making sure all the steps are taken for the appropriate (OMA) training.”
Greenspon pointed out that the district has been delinquent in its duty to notify the state’s Public Access Counselor of employees designated under OMA and FOIA.
“We haven’t done it for quite some time,” Greenspon remarked.
The board is expected to vote on amending the policies at their Oct. 24 meeting.
