Hinsdale D-86 Official Admits Violating Meetings Law

DARIEN, IL — A Hinsdale High School District 86 board member said Thursday he violated the state's open meetings law by responding to a text sent to board members.

Board member Jeff Waters called his act a "transgression" and apologized to the extent that he violated the state's Open Meetings Act. The law requires public bodies to conduct most of their discussions in public.

Waters said he sent the text "in the heat of the moment."

"I followed a senior board member's response prior. I'm a junior," he said. "I think it warrants a board discussion."

Board President Terri Walker said Waters violated no law.

"We have confirmed with legal that there was no violation with the text message," she said. "There is no issue there."

She did not explain how Waters' text did not violate the law. And Waters did not name the senior board member who also sent a text the same way. The senior members are Kathleen Hirsman, Erik Held and Cynthia Hanson.

Members of public bodies can send a message to all of their colleagues, but they are often advised against replying to all. In the view of many open government lawyers, replying all would constitute a meeting that should be advertised and open to the public.

In August and September, board members sent a number of emails to their colleagues about a controversial contract for "antiracist" consultants, who later resigned under pressure. The district declined to release the emails in response to a public records request, saying they are preliminary notes before a decision and thus exempt from release under the law.

The district also applied the same standard of secrecy to emails about a previous contract with the same consultants, an agreement that expired last school year. The discussions about that contract were long after the decision was made.