LTHS Official Fires Back At Critics

LA GRANGE, IL – Paula Struwing, a Lyons Township High School board member, said Monday that some residents were "spinning a narrative" about her position on the controversy over selling the school's land in Willow Springs.

Two years ago, the board tried selling 70 acres to an industrial developer, even though the land was zoned for residential and small retailing uses. The effort failed after a local uproar.

At a board meeting two weeks ago, Struwing, a Willow Springs resident who was appointed to the board in May, suggested the village consider rezoning the property.

And she contended the village government, which loudly objected to industrial uses on the property, made decisions on the issue "without consulting the people who live next to that property."

Her comments sparked criticism online. Patch wrote a story about Struwing's comments and a social media post from a couple of years ago. She did not return Patch's messages for comment.

When the land came up at Monday's board meeting, Struwing asked to read a statement in response to the criticism.

"I myself made something as simple as a comment during a meeting, and people ran with that over a word. And it was a word that never should have been translated into the way it was by those who heard it," Struwing said.

"Rezoning" was the word. She said it led people to "jump to conclusions" without exploring the nine other options for zoning.

Struwing said she never suggested in the previous meeting that she favored industrial uses on the property at 79th Street and Willow Springs Road. She said she has never spoken positively about such uses as a resident, an applicant for the board position or a sitting board member.

"So for clarity, any quotes attributed to me will come from these meetings, not from someone else spinning a narrative that doesn't exist," said Struwing, a high school teacher in another district.

She said her goal was to work with board members to explain why the community views local opposition to the industrial use of the land in question as "non-negotiable."

"It's precisely why I applied for the vacancy on this board – to advocate for families like mine who reside south of Joliet Road and how we'll be directly affected by the sale and development of this land," she said.

Struwing accused some residents of setting a "troubling precedent" of using social media to create a conflict between her board role and her views of candidates in village elections.

In early 2023, Struwing wrote on the "Willow Springs Voice" Facebook page, in which she was an administrator, about the village government's ruling party, suggesting local officials were unethical. She supported the rival party, which lost in the April 2023 election.

In Monday's statement, Struwing said, "I'm not going to respond in any manner other than to state that I believed that the party that I supported during the election aligned more closely with my pressing issues such as the sale of this land than the other party."

She also said her perception that the village's ruling party lacked integrity and dignity was "entirely justified."

"However, these matters are inappropriate for discussion in a board meeting, and consequently they have no place in this narrative," Struwing said.

Struwing did not explain in her statement why she criticized the ruling party's approach to the Willow Springs land issue.

When she applied for the board job, Struwing said she told members that Willow Springs residents believed the board was not open on the land issue and "that perception was all that mattered."

"So I'm committed to ensuring genuine transparency as we proceed with the potential sale of the land," she said.

In 2023, the attorney general's office ordered the board to release the recordings of two closed sessions about selling the land. The agency said the board violated the state's open meetings law in closing the doors.

The recordings showed that the board strategized about keeping information on the land sale away from the village of Willow Springs and other local public bodies.

An attorney from the board's law firm, which the board later ousted, attended the illegal closed sessions and advised that the school could sue if the buyer did not get its way on industrial zoning.