Post by d204mom on Mar 22, 2008 15:32:37 GMT -6
D204 board leader: 'Lawsuit will be defended'
March 12, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Indian Prairie School District 204's board met behind closed doors Monday to discuss the lawsuit filed Friday by Neighborhood Schools for Our Children.
And it emerged from the closed-session meeting with little to say.
"The lawsuit will be defended is all I can tell you at this point," said board President Mark Metzger.
Metzger added that the district will employ co-council to work alongside its attorneys from Whitt Law, but who that co-council will be has yet to be determined, he said.
A group of Indian Prairie School District 204 parents filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to prevent the construction of a third high school "on any property other than Brach-Brodie."
Attorney Shawn Collins has been hired to represent the group of residents - who call themselves Neighborhood Schools for Our Children - in its lawsuit against the District 204 board.
Their complaint is two-fold. It contests the district's recent decision to locate Metea Valley High School on property at Eola and Molitor roads in Aurora, as that land had "previously been disqualified by the district as a potential health threat." The complaint also claims residents' rights were violated by the "blatant repudiation of the district's own resolutions and repeated public and in-court statements that the referendum money was to be used to build the high school on different property, known as Brach-Brodie."
The group is seeking a court order to prevent the district from building the new high school on any property other than Brach-Brodie.
Metzger noted the obvious - that, for this to occur, the district must purchase the Brach-Brodie property.
"We don't have the money to close on that site and build on it," Metzger said. "That hasn't changed."
District officials have received calls from the Brach-Brodie trust's attorney "to see if they were still in the mix," but, Metzger added, the district has not contacted representatives of the Brach-Brodie trust. He said, though, that he'd expect their asking price to still come in at $31 million.
"The bottom line is we can't afford that," he said.
Earlier in the evening, the district reviewed its long-term financial outlook, which shows the district maintaining a cumulative surplus of $91 million at the end of the year. That amount is equal to roughly 35 percent of its operating budget, and it is projected to fall to roughly 20 percent - or $61 million - by 2012, which is the earliest date District 204 administrators can foresee seeking an operating fund tax increase.
Metzger stressed that the district would not use any of that money to purchase property because doing so would only accelerate the need to return to voters for more money.
"Absolutely not. Never, ever, ever," he said. "We made a commitment in September that we will only spend capital funds on this project, and we intend to keep that commitment."
March 12, 2008
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Indian Prairie School District 204's board met behind closed doors Monday to discuss the lawsuit filed Friday by Neighborhood Schools for Our Children.
And it emerged from the closed-session meeting with little to say.
"The lawsuit will be defended is all I can tell you at this point," said board President Mark Metzger.
Metzger added that the district will employ co-council to work alongside its attorneys from Whitt Law, but who that co-council will be has yet to be determined, he said.
A group of Indian Prairie School District 204 parents filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to prevent the construction of a third high school "on any property other than Brach-Brodie."
Attorney Shawn Collins has been hired to represent the group of residents - who call themselves Neighborhood Schools for Our Children - in its lawsuit against the District 204 board.
Their complaint is two-fold. It contests the district's recent decision to locate Metea Valley High School on property at Eola and Molitor roads in Aurora, as that land had "previously been disqualified by the district as a potential health threat." The complaint also claims residents' rights were violated by the "blatant repudiation of the district's own resolutions and repeated public and in-court statements that the referendum money was to be used to build the high school on different property, known as Brach-Brodie."
The group is seeking a court order to prevent the district from building the new high school on any property other than Brach-Brodie.
Metzger noted the obvious - that, for this to occur, the district must purchase the Brach-Brodie property.
"We don't have the money to close on that site and build on it," Metzger said. "That hasn't changed."
District officials have received calls from the Brach-Brodie trust's attorney "to see if they were still in the mix," but, Metzger added, the district has not contacted representatives of the Brach-Brodie trust. He said, though, that he'd expect their asking price to still come in at $31 million.
"The bottom line is we can't afford that," he said.
Earlier in the evening, the district reviewed its long-term financial outlook, which shows the district maintaining a cumulative surplus of $91 million at the end of the year. That amount is equal to roughly 35 percent of its operating budget, and it is projected to fall to roughly 20 percent - or $61 million - by 2012, which is the earliest date District 204 administrators can foresee seeking an operating fund tax increase.
Metzger stressed that the district would not use any of that money to purchase property because doing so would only accelerate the need to return to voters for more money.
"Absolutely not. Never, ever, ever," he said. "We made a commitment in September that we will only spend capital funds on this project, and we intend to keep that commitment."
