LTHS Asks For Cops At Board Meetings

LA GRANGE, IL — An "unstable atmosphere" at a November meeting of the Lyons Township High School board led the superintendent to seek a police presence and move to a bigger space for meetings.

Three days after the Nov. 15 meeting, Superintendent Brian Waterman emailed the school board his "sincere apologies" for the "unstable atmosphere" at the session.

"The environment, of course, was not conducive to conducting Board business, and I am truly sorry to anyone who felt unsafe," Waterman said.

Much of his email to the board was blacked out in response to Patch's public records request. The school did not give a reason for its decision to keep a part of Waterman's message secret. Under state law, it is required to give an explanation.

In an email Monday, Waterman said the redacted comments were not about the meeting in question. He said the redacted portion was considered "internal pre-decisional informational items," citing an exemption under the state's open records law.

In the unredacted part of the email, Waterman did not say why he believed the meeting was unstable. This was the session in which resident Laura Tussing read steamy passages from books that she said should be unavailable to students. It was also where William See challenged the mask mandate.

During his time at the podium, See asked officials about the mask rule, which he compared to torture. Officials declined to answer his questions, prompting a woman to say, "This is so disrespectful. You are being disrespectful all the time to us."

When See's time was up, he declined to leave the podium right away. When he did, he continued to speak. At an October meeting, See said school officials were "worse than pedophiles because they are screwing with your kids' brains."

In his email, Waterman said the school was making arrangements to ensure that uniformed officers are stationed inside and outside meetings. He also said meetings were moving to the much larger Reber auditorium on the North Campus. At a December meeting, See was ushered out by security after calling school officials "bobbleheads."

He also said the school would continue, as it has since August, to seek guidance from its law firm, Chicago-based Franczek, to ensure the board was using its policies for the safety of board members, school leaders and the community.