In Reversal, ETHS Board Drops New Confidentiality Policy

EVANSTON, IL — The Evanston Township High School District 202 Board unanimously voted to withdraw its controversial new confidentiality policy Tuesday. After championing the policy earlier, the board's president said the issue has taken up too much time and the resolution was arguably never necessary in the first place.

At the board's last meeting, members voted 5-2 on Dec. 11 to adopt a resolution declaring that all written communications from either the board president of the district superintendent should be assumed to be confidential unless it states otherwise. At the time, only the two lawyers on the board voted against the resolution. They raised concerns the move could run afoul of state and federal law.

On Tuesday, Board President Pat Savage-Williams gave a 12-minute explanation of why the withdrawn resolution was passed, why she believes it was legal and why she supported withdrawing it.

"The resolution does not violate the law," she said, citing an opinion from the school district's attorney.

She said it was not, as opponents argued, aimed at avoiding the district's transparency obligations.

Its "intent and content was misrepresented in the press and in the public dialogue," Savage-Williams said.

"The purpose of the resolution was simply for the board to recognize its obligations pursuant to each board member's oath of office."

Savage-Williams repeated her assertion that board member Jonathan Baum had violated the board's policies and code of conduct because he shared an email from the superintendent with concerned constituents.

That email sought to justify the administrators' decision to seize a school newspaper – in apparent violation of state law – because students had written about marijuana.

Baum's "inappropriate actions," she said, "compromised the cooperative working relationship" between the board and the superintendent.

Since the policy contained no penalties for violating it, Savage-Williams described it as "aspirational rather than obligatory." That lack of consequences made it arguably unnecessary, she explained.

The board president said the issue had already taken up too much of the board's time.

"The merits of the resolution are outweighed by the risk that it will be continue to be misconstrued and the board and the school district will be weighed down by unnecessary distractions."

Savage-Williams said the board's decision to reverse course had nothing to do with a letter from the Illinois ACLU warning the policy raised serious constitutional issues. She said attorneys for the district reviewed the letter and found civil liberties concerns were "not consistent with the intent of the resolution."

Additionally, the withdrawal of the policy was on the agenda even before the board received the letter, she said.

Savage-Williams said she hoped the board would take actions in the future to address the concerns addressed in the resolution and "inappropriate board members’ actions."

Other than Savage-Williams, only two board members spoke on the subject at the Jan. 16 meeting.

Patricia Maunsel said she believed everything in the resolution was already board policy.

"I think it's important for us to move on," she said, "But I do encourage us all to go back to those commitments and make sure we live up to them on behalf of our students."

Jude Laude said the "intent of the resolution was well-articulated" but also recognized the public's misgivings about the policy.

"Concerns about transparency are concerns that are true. So I do also want to validate those concerns," he said.

» More: ETHS Board Adopts Controversial Confidentiality Policy

_{Top photo: Patricia Savage-Williams | via Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education}