By Chris Fox
Marsha Baker, a member of the Elmhurst League of Women Voters, spoke up during the public-participation segment of the recent Board meeting of School District 205. Baker said the LWV was concerned about the board’s reduction in the number of its board meetings, to one regular meeting each month of the 2022-23 school year, while adding three committee-of-the-whole meetings during the same period.
The board frequently held two meetings per month during the 2021-22 school year.
Baker said the LWV was also concerned about the board’s decision to no longer record its committee meetings—namely its Finance and Operations Committee meetings and its Policy Committee meetings.
Baker said the community benefits from more direct and transparent information. She said that only after the LWV submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request did the board provide a cost for recording the meetings. Baker said the cost of the meetings was $50 and hour, and that the decision not to record the meetings would provide the district an annual savings of about $400.
Baker said the reduction in regular board meetings and the lack of recording committee meetings appears to be an effort by the board to insulate itself from the community it serves. Baker said a LWV observer has been present at every recent board meeting, and that the board has never publicly discussed the matters of reducing regular meetings and declining to record committee meetings. She urged the board to review the issues in open session.
The Board did not directly reply to Baker at the meeting, which is customary in the public participation segment of the meeting.
