letter from school board on the jury verdict

[proschool]

IPSD News
Board President's Message on Land Verdict
Reported by [e-mail] on 9/28/07

The Board of Education appreciates the feedback it has received regarding the recent Brach-Brodie decision. I want to take a moment to let you know the board's next steps. The special meeting of the Board of Education for Friday, September 28, 2007 is cancelled. The board will hold a special meeting on Monday, October 1, 2007 at 7:00 pm to begin our discussions with the administration and our advisors regarding the options available to the school district in the wake of the jury's decision.

The board needs time to consider the options for proceeding (including not proceeding), the consequences of selecting among the available options and the ramifications of making those decisions.

Monday will present the board with its first opportunity to discuss the current landscape and to direct the administration's information-gathering that is already underway. We will not be in a position to take any form of final action on Monday. As a result, the agenda for Monday's meeting will contain no action items related to either the land or to Metea Valley High School. While anyone is welcome to attend, I think it only fair to point out that the meeting will take place largely in executive session as we begin to consider the appropriate actions in response to the verdict.

The District has until late October to decide whether to purchase the Brach-Brodie land. The board does not intend to rush in making that decision.

We will report more as progress is made. Thank you for your continued support.

Mark Metzger, President
Board of Education

[wvhsparent]

Why must it be held in executive session (secret)....Do it in the open!!!

Anyone know how this fits within the open meetings act?

[bbc]

agreed

[Arch]

I think everyone agrees w/ that assessment.

What 'benefits' are there to ES? Is it recorded or transcribed in any way at all?

[bob]

wvhsparent said:

Why must it be held in executive session (secret)....Do it in the open!!!

Did you not see the boundary meetings?

Deals and bids might be discussed. I would rather have it behind close doors then let owners know what we are going to bid.

If they got an offer from Macom or the church , maybe they would legally bound not to discuss it publically until decided on.

[wvhsparent]

I have a call into the DuPage State's Attorney's Office to see if they will be in violation of the open meetings act.

[casey]

I think that's why the original Friday night meeting was changed to Monday. In order to have an Executive Session meeting (i.e. behind closed doors) the SB needed to give set amount of advanced notice. Had they held the meeting tonight, I don't think that they would have been able to do anything in Executive Session and everything would have been open to the public. That would have made for a very interesting Friday night. As it stands, the Monday meeting won't give us an opportunity to do or hear much at all as it will be Executive Committee only. I personally think there should be a "town hall meeting" to allow the voices of the community to be heard.

[blankcheck]

I agree WVHS. This is a HUGE issue involving a HUGE amount of taxpayer $$$. The meeting should be open and I wondered the same thing this morning - are they in violation of the open meetings act.

[bob]

So if they are discussing possible offers for land, you all want to know about it. I am not talking final amount but possible. The SB should be taking and receiving offers behind close doors especially since some land owners will not want their price displayed.

[wvhsparent]

OK But IMHO If it has anything at all to do accepting/rejecting BB...That needs to be in the open.

[southsidemom]

I saw the agenda that was posted for tonight's (cancelled) meeting and it looked like they were going to start the bidding process for land movement and architectual workings. That meeting must have been planned before the verdict.

BTW: If they can find an extra $17 million to purchase a soybean farm, then our new A/C's must already be on order.

[doctorwho]

wvhsparent said:

OK But IMHO If it has anything at all to do accepting/rejecting BB...That needs to be in the open.

the note already said nothing is being decided -- they have to gather the info to put the proposals ( multiple I assume) - forward. When that time comes I agree it needs to be public and assume it will be.

[lacy]

bob said:

So if they are discussing possible offers for land, you all want to know about it. I am not talking final amount but possible. The SB should be taking and receiving offers behind close doors especially since some land owners will not want their price displayed.

I believe they'll be discussing how to continue to ram BB down our throats.

[casey]

You've got that right! I still think that it will be BB all the way - no matter what.

[gumby]

If they can come up with the money, so what?