Friday, September 8, 2017

A Meeting Has been Scheduled for 9/11 by the HMS Referendum Accountability Committee. Why is it "Necessary?"

Tonight we received the following comment.  We have decided to post it as a free standing post.  Just as the poster, we will review what is published on Board Docs for the "necessary" 9/11/17 Accountability Committee meeting. We will report back if we read anything that might answer the question of why this meeting is being called.
AnonymousAnonymous said...
A community member just posted this to their Facebook page. Can you run as a free standing post and put people on notice?

D181 HMS Accountability Committee Update.

Today, the D181 Communications Director sent out a brief email to the community providing notice of a regular BOE meeting scheduled for Monday, September 11. Almost as an after thought is a one line reference to a 5 pm meeting on 9/11 of the Accountability Committee.

As you all know, part of the HMS litigation settlement was the creation of an Accountability Committee to review process concerns related to the HMS referendum. The first meeting was held on July 26 and a summary of that meeting can be accessed at:

http://www.d181.org/…/B…/Meetings/Board_Summary_17-07-26.pdf

The timeline of future meetings is outlined towards the end of the summary and of relevance is the following statement:
"It was determined that the Committee may meet prior to the regularly scheduled Business meeting on September 11, 2017, if necessary, to discuss their submitted comments and questions. If the meeting is held, the deadline for the administration to provide the draft report would be moved to September 7, 2017 so that related materials can be posted on BoardDocs."

So it appears, that a meeting is "necessary." Board docs on this meeting will post on Saturday morning. I for one, will be reading them to see why a meeting is needed.
September 8, 2017 at 5:49 PM
Posted by at

3 comments:

Yvonne Mayer said...

Part 1:

ALERT!!!!! D181 Accountability Committee Update --

Below is a FB post I published yesterday. I spent the morning reading Board Docs on the 9/11 accountability committee. It was quite eye opening and more importantly establishes quite clearly that the entire HMS Referendum/Notice/Lawsuit debacle could have been avoided. It is time for some real accountability and I am hoping that this committee and then the full board will take all necessary steps.

I am posting the link to a submission by Board Member Patel in which she flags some very serious issues and questions: http://www.boarddocs.com/…/2017_08_30_Patel_BOE%20Acct%20Co…

Read the entire document but focus on Section 4 called "Legal Notice and Related Procedures" in which Member Patel states:
"1. Please include the communications and FOIA requests by community members Mayer and Schmidt.

2. On August 19, 2016, a letter from the Board of Education legal firm, Hauser Izzo, was sent to the Office of Superintendent, Dr. White, stating that the district must follow multi-step election procedures.
Please see language below from item number three which states:
"Notice of the proposition to be submitted at the election is to be published by
the DuPage election commission and the cook county clerk. The notice must be published not earlier than Saturday, October 8, 2016 and not after Friday, October 28, 2016 in the Hinsdalean, which is the newspaper having general circulation in the district designated in the resolution. We strongly suggest that you make certain that the publication of the notice is made in an accurate and a timely manner."

3. On August 23, 2016, a letter from the Office of the Superintendent was sent to legal firm Hauser Izzo in response to the August 19th letter stating that they will follow election procedures.
Please see language below from item number three which states:
“Our office will ensure that notice of the proposition to be submitted at the election is to be published by the DuPage Election Commission and the Cook County Clerk. The notice must be published not earlier than Saturday, October 8, 2016 and not after Friday, October 28, 2016 in the Hinsdalean, which is the newspaper having general circulation in the district designated in the resolution.”

4. Upon receipt of the letter from the DuPage Election Commission on October 3, 2016, stating that the notices would be published the week of October 3rd, why didn’t Dr. White immediately flag the publication error as advised by lawyers on August 19th and that he confirmed that he would do on August 23rd? The Hinsdalean is a weekly publication distributed on Thursday. Based on this letter, notifications received by the district that the publication would happen on Thursday, October 6th, 2016, which was 2 days before the earliest date of Saturday, October 8th, 2016.

5. After bond counsel flagged the publication error in December and refused to sell bonds and after the lawsuit was filed, why didn’t BOE legal counsel Hauser Izzo inform the BOE of letter to Office of Superintendent dated August 19th clearly stating publication dates and response letter from Office of Superintendent confirming that they will ensure that notice properly published within publication dates?

6. At the July 26, 2017, Accountability Committee meeting why didn’t Dr White disclose the August 19, 2016 letter directing him to follow election procedures that was sent to him by the BOE legal firm when asked if there was a checklist available to the district to ensure that proper procedures are followed when he received a list of election procedures to follow on August 19, 2016? Why did he say that the district did not have a check list?

September 10, 2017 at 11:46 AM
Yvonne Mayer said...

Part 2:

7. On August 15, 2016, District 181 wrote in the Hinsdalean into the Resolution language.
Please see language below from Section 7 of Resolution Language:
“That is hereby found and determined that the Hinsdalean is a local, community newspaper having general circulation in the District as required by Section 12-5 of the Election Code of the State of Illinois, as amended (the “Election Code”).

8. Why was the Hinsdalean chosen as the newspaper having general circulation in District 181 in the Resolution dated August 15, 2016?

9. Moving forward, a publication should be chosen that is distributed throughout the entire district 181 area including Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Oak Brook, Burr Ridge."

Member Patel raises some very serious questions about the inaction by Dr. White, action which, in my opinion, if taken could clearly have caught the Dupage Election publication error BEFORE it was too late to fix. But for this inaction, it is my opinion that the last 10 months of utter chaos the district has gone through would not have happened and construction on the new HMS would have started months ago.

More importantly, Ms. Patel asks good questions about why the BOE was NEVER told about these documents!

I plan to attend Monday's Accountability Committee meeting and urge all D181 residents to do the same. It is time for some answers and accountability!

September 10, 2017 at 11:47 AM
Yvonne Mayer said...

Here is the correct link to Board Member Patel's report on board docs:

http://www.boarddocs.com/il/hccsdil/Board.nsf/files/AQWGWL457CA4/$file/2017_08_30_Patel_BOE%20Acct%20Comm%20Report%20Comments.pdf

September 10, 2017 at 11:49 AM

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