We Didn't Talk Shop: Hinsdale D86 Members

HINSDALE, IL – Three Hinsdale High School District 86 board members who met at a restaurant after last week's board meeting said they didn't talk about district business, according to a local newspaper.

Board President Catherine Greenspon, Vice President Peggy James and member Jeff Waters were photographed last Thursday evening dining in the outdoor area at Taco Grill and Salsa Bar in Westmont.

Under the state Open Meetings Act, no more than two of the board's seven members can discuss district business together outside an advertised meeting. It's possible the trio discussed other topics.

On Monday, Patch published a story about the restaurant meeting. None of the members responded to Patch's inquiries from three days earlier.

The Hinsdalean, a weekly newspaper, reported Wednesday that Greenspon, James and Waters said no board business was discussed at Taco Grill.

“We all stayed after (the meeting) to help clean up as we typically do — there are any number of board members that stay after to clean up — and decided we were hungry and went to eat,” Greenspon told the Hinsdalean. “That was it.”

Greenspon said she had been out with other board members after meetings before and that she did not believe such gatherings were inappropriate, according to the Hinsdalean.

“As a board member, I do not give up my rights as an individual private citizen at all,” she told the newspaper.

The Hinsdalean said Waters stated in an email that he did not give up his private life after he was elected to the school board.

About 8:30 p.m. Thursday, District 86 resident Yvonne Mayer took a photo of the three eating outside Taco Grill. It was about an hour and a half after the publicly advertised board meeting ended.

In an email to Patch last week, Mayer said she expected the trio to insist they did not touch on district business.

"I am sure they will deny it, and claim that they only gathered to discuss personal business, politics, or the weather, but seriously, it is implausible that they did not discuss ANY aspect of district business, convening at a private gathering of just the three of them immediately after a board meeting..." Mayer said.