Public Excluded from School Refendum Meeting

by Lee Williams Carl Lambrecht knew he might be arrested when walked into what he believes was a public meeting Tuesday night. Instead, he never got in the door. He believes he was excluded from the meeting by district officials, in order to keep details of a costly referendum from the public. Lambrecht, a 77-year-old...

by Lee Williams

Carl Lambrecht knew he might be arrested when walked into what he believes was a public meeting Tuesday night.

Instead, he never got in the door.

He believes he was excluded from the meeting by district officials, in order to keep details of a costly referendum from the public.

Lambrecht, a 77-year-old retired optical manufacturer from Highland Park, has long been concerned with how Township High School District 113 spends his tax dollars.

“People should know what expenses are going on,” he said. “They could be spiking salaries and increasing taxes.”

When he heard the school district, which covers Highland Park and Deerfield, had paid $93,000 to an architectural firm that has experience lobbying the public to get referendums passed, he wanted to know more.

Weeks later, a friend told Lambrecht they had been invited to join the newly-created “Community Leadership Planning Task Force,” which was organized by School District 113 Superintendent George V. Fornero, and scheduled to meet Tuesday night.

Formation of this task force is part of a pre-referendum plan submitted by the architectural firm Wight & Co., which is headquartered in Darien, Illinois.

Publicly, Fornero has denied that the district would soon propose a referendum.  However, according to documents obtained by the Illinois Policy Institute, the architectural firm has the referendum process on a tight timeline, and it will assist the school district by lobbying the public to approve the tax increase.

Wight produced a timeline for the referendum titled, “April 2011 Referendum Planning Calendar,” which has specific dates for organizational meetings, teacher input, and even addresses the use of phone banks and poll watchers on election day.

In a letter Wight & Co. sent last month to district officials, the firm states it will “participate in referendum strategy meetings to assist the District in organizing information content, communications strategies and theme/message statements.”

It will also help develop “flyers, signage or other informational materials requested to help inform the community.”

On Tuesday, Lambrecht told Fornero he planned to attend the meeting, which was held at the school district’s administrative building, to get more insight into the process.

“He flatly told me I could not come,” he said. “He said he’d have the police remove me.”

Lambrecht went anyway.

The district’s assistant superintendent was waiting for him at the front door.

“He told me I was not invited, and that I could not come in,” Lambrecht said. “I don’t think it was his wish that I be kept out. I’m upset I was pushed out of what should have been a public meeting. I saw a school board member there.”

Fornero told the Illinois Policy Institute he “called an administrative meeting last night, not a meeting under the Open Meeting Act – a meeting I called as superintendent, not a meeting of the school board or school board committees. I also called the Lake County State’s Attorney.”

Only two of the district’s seven school board members were invited, Fornero explained, not enough for a quorum.

Even though the superintendent’s task force is part of the plan that could lead to the referendum, Fornero said it was not the subject of the evening, although it was mentioned.

“It was about communication – long range goals, direction,” he said.

According to Wight’s Referendum Planning Calendar, Tuesday’s meeting was referendum related titled: “Kick Off with Community Planning Task Force + District Planning Team.”

As to whether barring a 77-year-old retiree from entry was a good idea, Fornero said, “What I would say in hindsight, when I call a meeting for a specific purpose, I want to focus on the meeting.”

Fornero explained there will be six community meetings open to the public that Lambrecht and anyone else can attend.

“We’re trying to be as open and transparent as possible,” he said.

The Illinois Policy Institute has developed a 10-Point Transparency Checklist to hold government and elected officials accountable to the citizens and taxpayers, and to provide a “best practices” framework to improve government transparency across Illinois.