Canceled: No Closed Doors At Hinsdale D-86 After All

HINSDALE, IL – The planned mystery meeting of the Hinsdale High School District 86 board on Thursday was canceled with just 2½ hours to spare.

The meeting had been scheduled just two days earlier. It was set to start at 8 p.m., which was three hours later than normal.

Many government boards give the public legal justifications for why they are meeting behind closed doors.

But the District 86 board did not. Instead, it gave a laundry list of 15 possible reasons allowed under state law.

On Tuesday, Patch emailed the district's communications director, Chris Jasculca, about the legal justification. He did not respond.

A few months ago, when the board held a closed session, Jasculca responded in an email that the meeting was for a discussion about specific personnel.

On Thursday, Patch left messages with board President Terri Walker and member Peggy James, who is the board's secretary. Neither responded.

The board's last special closed session was on Feb. 4. It paid an outside vendor $165 to film the public comments during the meeting. That's because the employee who handles that job had the day off.

At the meeting, most of the commenters criticized Superintendent Tammy Prentiss, some calling for her ouster.

The district has yet to post the video in its website archive, despite calls to do so. However, it included the footage in its more obscure online Freedom of Information Act portal. That was in response to a public records request.

District 86 is one of a few government entities in Illinois to post online many of its responses to public records requests, though it appears to have scaled back that openness in recent months. Hinsdale School District 181 is also a part of the small group.