Elmhurst District Releases Closed Meeting Recording

ELMHURST, IL — The Elmhurst School District board last year voted for an administrative reorganization by a 5-2 vote. The two dissenters, Karen Stuefen and Shannon Ebner, said they needed more information. The discussion lasted less than a minute, but earlier that night, members had a spirited debate about the proposal — behind closed doors.

That discussion was meant to stay secret, but the school district settled a lawsuit this week challenging its decision to close the June 18, 2018, meeting. As part of the agreement, the district released both the recording and the transcript — a rare parting of the curtains.

The main item in the plan was adding a human resources director position, which would be in addition to an assistant superintendent for human resources. Other items called for enhancing the titles of some positions.

"Other districts have less hierarchy in human resources," Stuefen said during the 34-minute closed session. "You have other districts that are larger than ours and they don't have the same structure."

Stuefen said it wasn't right to have "such large titles, so many of them, more than other districts, and they have more people and employees they have to manage."

She also said she was concerned with the timing of the plan, referring to union negotiations and a coming $168 million referendum, which voters approved later that year.

Stuefen said she asked Superintendent Dave Moyer for the administrative costs per student, but she did not receive an answer.

In response, Moyer said he was planning to do another study in 2019 on administrative spending but that he believed the district was in the middle of the pack in that category. When others said he could easily get that information from the Illinois Report Card site, Moyer said it was more valuable to compare Elmhurst with similar districts.

As a compromise, Moyer suggested a possible phase-in of the reorganization, so the district could move away from the possible perception that "we're just indiscriminately adding administration."

Other members expressed support for the proposal.

"I, for one, have no problem with this plan," member Jim Collins told Moyer. "We're providing an upward career path. People work for titles... You offer a higher title, you get a better person. You get a better pool of candidates for the job."

Member Chris Blum agreed. "From my perspective, I'm not going to micromanage your team. You've done a great job of hiring people. You've done a great job of putting your team in place," he said.

The board approved the plan later that night.

According to the Illinois Report Card, the Elmhurst district's "general administration" spending amounted to about 1 percent last school year, less than the 3 percent state average.

Under state law, a public body can discuss specific employees behind closed doors, but general issues related to personnel must be aired in the open.

The school district agreed to pay the legal costs of Edgar Pal, the former Elmhurst resident who sued for the meeting recording.