District 86 Board Debates Merits of Barrett Case

Board member Dianne Barrett was absent from Monday night’s  School Board meeting, but she was still at the center of a discussion regarding board agreements.

Barrett filed a lawsuit last year against Board President Dennis Brennan and Superintendent Dr. Nicholas Wahl over access to documents involving the district’s special education program. On the agenda for Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting at , underneath the president’s report, was a review of board agreements, including one in which board members agreed not to make requests for documents that were “a nuisance or burdensome” for administration personnel.

Board member Dr. Richard Skoda questioned the usefulness of the agreement and also objected to some wording, specifically that document requests should relate to “pending or upcoming” board actions.

“For instance, somebody says to you, ‘I don’t think we’re sending our residential kids to ISBE [Illinois State Board of Education] certified schools,’” Skoda said, “as a board member … I would like to check to see if that’s the case. However, by a strict reading of this, it’s not a pending or upcoming action.”

According to board member Jennifer Planson, a board member's job is to point the person in the right direction and towards the correct staff member.

“You can also follow up with them to make sure they have gotten the proper information,” Planson said.

Skoda said he had asked in May for a list of all schools the district sends its residential special education students to and was told, due to board agreements, that his request could not be filled by the administration.

Superintendant Wahl said, “I was functioning as the majority of the board directed me how to handle those requests.”

Wahl said he did not deny access to the information and Skoda had not made a Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] request for the information.

Skoda said a FOIA request would just create more paperwork.

Individual rights vs. collective good?

“Who determines what is burdensome or a nuisance?” Skoda asked. “That can only be the individual [board member].”

Board member Kay Gallo, who drafted the agreement, said it was her opinion that District 86 administrators who have to fulfill the requests would make that determination.

She said administrators could wind up fielding requests for documents from seven different board members, taking time away from their normal duties.

“Then we get to the whole problem of the Barrett case,” Skoda said. “Does a board member have a right to documents or don’t they?

“From the board’s view, right now, they don’t want to give Mrs. Barrett documents because they believe, by federal law, they would be divulging confidentiality. Her argument is, as a sworn board member, she already has confidentiality restraints on her. She can’t take that information and just give it around.”

But Gallo pointed out that Barrett already indicated she wanted others to see the information she was seeking.

“She wanted to share these documents with people whom she thought were experts, when we already have experts,” Gallo said, referring specifically to Wahl, Director of Student Services Dr. Joyce Powell, and Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Bruce Law. “She wants to give them to people … we don’t even know.”

Brennan called Skoda's idea that board members police themselves regarding burdensome requests "pretty much anarchy" while Skoda argued that a board agreement that was not agreed to by all board members was not a true agreement.

“The minority has rights,” he said.

The board agreed to allow time for members to offer alternative wording for the agreement and to bring the matter back for further consideration at its next meeting.