Schools
D181 Board Again Delays Action on Personnel Issue
Executive session goes four-plus hours for the second straight week; discussion will continue Thursday evening.
Another late night at for the Community Consolidated School District 181 school board ended with another announcement that the personnel discussion held by the board the last two Mondays is still not resolved.
The discussion will be continued Thursday at 5:15 p.m. at Elm, 15 W. 201 60th St. in Burr Ridge.
Details of the executive sessions have not been released by District 181 administrators, but 11 people who made public comments May 16 and one who commented Monday spoke about (CHMS) Principal Griffin Sonntag, who has been on administrative leave since late April, according to District 181 Director of Communications Rita DuChateau.
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District 181 parent Kerry Comstock was the lone commenter Monday and she spoke in support of reinstating Sonntag.
"This is not just any principal, this is our principal," Comstock said. "My eighth grader is so looking forward to having him hand her her diploma on June 8."
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On May 16, a special board meeting included a nearly six-hour executive session to discuss pending litigation and personnel. The session did not result in any action that night.
The board reconvened Monday at Elm and held a regular business meeting that lasted from just after 7 p.m. to just after 8 p.m. It then went into closed session to continue only the personnel discussion.
Board members re-emerged at approximately 12:20 a.m. and voted to take a recess until Thursday evening.
Superintendant Dr. Renee Schuster expressed hope that action would be taken Thursday.
"That's the intention of coming back," Schuster said, "but I can't give any guarantees."
Sonntag has been on administrative leave since April 27. On May 6, Schuster sent an email to CHMS families addressing the issue.
"At this point, we are not certain how long Mr. Sonntag will be absent," the email, which was passed along to Patch by DuChateau, read.
The email did not mention any reason for Sonntag's being on administrative leave. Currently, CHMS Assistant Principal Eric Chisausky is filling in for Sonntag.
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