Elmhurst D205 Interruptions Raise Free Speech Issue

ELMHURST, IL – First Amendment advocates say rules about public comments at government meetings must be neutral on what people are saying.

But at this week's Elmhurst School District 205 board meeting, the board's president, Athena Arvanitis, twice interrupted a speaker, attempting to stop him from saying certain things.

She never outright ordered the speaker, Elmhurst resident Tom Chavez, to stop speaking. She gave him a little over the three-minute limit for commenters, likely because of the interruptions.

In 2019, Hinsdale High School District 86's board president blocked the comments of three speakers. The residents alleged an assistant superintendent took a different position on a science curriculum issue than she had elsewhere.

The president said she would not allow them to name personnel in their comments.

The speakers later sued the district in federal court on free speech grounds. After spending tens of thousands of dollars, the district settled with the residents. The agreement required the district to pay the residents' legal bills. It also mandated the board undergo First Amendment training by the Elmhurst-based Citizen Advocacy Center.

The center's main lesson: The board could not regulate the content of people's comments, including obscenities.

At Tuesday's Elmhurst school board meeting, Chavez spoke against York High School teacher Kelly DeLoriea, whom the board later reprimanded for publicly releasing information about Chavez's child.

Chavez turned his comments to Marsha Baker, a resident who has routinely criticized him during public meetings.

When he mentioned Baker's name, Arvanitis interrupted, saying, "Tom, I'm sorry. Excuse me, can we please refrain from using people's names?"

He continued and focused on Baker's role as president of the Elmhurst Public Library board. He said Baker encourages everyone to take part in democracy, adding Baker should have more respect for those who do.

Arvanitis broke in again.

"Tom, can we move on to board business?" she said.

"This is board business," Chavez replied. "It's an important issue."

Arvanitis said, "Tom, can you please move on?"

Chavez said he wanted the right to speak.

At the July 25 board meeting, Baker criticized Chavez by name. She called him the "failed school board candidate," referring to his unsuccessful race for the school board in April.

Arvanitis did not interrupt Baker. Nor did she interrupt speakers at either meeting for referring to the teacher, DeLoriea, by name.

In response to a Patch inquiry, Arvanitis noted the public was asked at the beginning to refrain from using anyone's names and be respectful in their comments.

Arvanitis' advisory to speakers shifted slightly from the July 25 meeting. At that session, she asked public speakers to refrain from using employees' names. At Tuesday's meeting, she extended that to anyone's name.

Asked about the interruptions, Arvanitis said in an email, "The interruption was an attempt to encourage the speaker to focus on district business and/or listed agenda items and to refrain from naming specific community members or their roles in other organizations."

She said it was important to note Chavez got the same amount of time to speak as the others.

In 2021, a man told Lyons Township High School board members that they were "worse than pedophiles" in his argument against the school's face mask policy.

At a later meeting, he called members "bobbleheads" because he said they did whatever the superintendent wanted. That insult was too much for school officials, who had the man, William See, escorted out by a police officer.

Through a public records request, Patch found that the school banned See from the premises for good. See never sued.