D-86 May Delay Access To Administrator Contracts

HINSDALE, IL — A proposal in Hinsdale High School District 86 would make it harder for taxpayers to access the administrator contracts that are coming before the school board. Traditionally, the district has posted such contracts online before board meetings, officials said.

But board member Keith Chval said at last week's board meeting that the district has been going beyond the requirements of the state open meetings law by posting the contracts. Under the proposal, the district would refrain from releasing the contracts until someone submits a public records request.

Chval said at the meeting that one of the reasons for the proposal is because of the "sensitivities with respect to that prospective hire's current employment." But that reason would not cover situations when the board is voting on contracts for existing administrators.

Asked about this issue, Chval said it hadn't crossed his mind that not all contracts are for those from outside the district.

"Having now given it a bit of thought, my individual thought is that it's still best to keep it the way that it is for all prospective hires for the sake of consistency and avoiding mistakes due to having two processes in place for the same activity," he said in an email to Patch.

In a later email, he clarified that "keep it the way that it is" means continuing to push the proposal, not sticking with the existing custom of disclosing contracts before votes.

As for the Open Meetings act, he said the board's human resources committee, which he heads, has "undertook a routine and periodic review of our practices to ensure that the district's practices are in line with developments with the (Open Meetings Act) as it had been a while since that was last done in this regard."

The board has not yet voted on the proposal. It is one of several updates to policies identified by the board's human resources committee.

In Illinois, public employment contracts and settlement agreements with employees are public records.