Bartolozzi charges Hansen with violation of
Open Meetings Act
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Ball-Chatham Board of Education member Mark Bartolozzi has alleged that board president Patrick
Hansen has violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act, or at least violated the "spirit of the Act".
Bartolozzi brought the matter up Monday night to the school board, stating that last month's vote to
institute a new correspondence course policy at Glenwood High School should be declared "null and
void".
"I'm not suggesting there was a deliberate violation (of the Open Meetings Act), Bartolozzi
explained. "But even an inadvertent act is a violation of the spirit of the Act. And it bothers me deeply."
Bartolozzi suggested that Hansen, an assistant U.S. Attorney who brought forth the revised
correspondence policy that was approved 4-3 by the board, "collaborated" with several other board
members prior to the vote at the May meeting to gauge whether or not he had the four votes necessary
for the measure to pass.
According to the Open Meetings Act, a maximum of two board members may discuss school board
business outside of the public meeting arena. If three or more get together to discuss business
outside of regular meetings it would be considered a violation.
"I respectfully disagree with your assumptions and conclusions," Hansen responded at the
meeting to Bartolozzi. "I never met with more than one member at a time to discuss any issues. I let
this go the last time, because I don't respond to personal attacks. But this is a legal accusation.
We're talking about an issue that was discussed for three or four meetings at length."
Bartolozzi added that he has been in contact with the local State's Attorney and State Attorney
General's offices, and he was hopeful that the school board might want to get its own attorney
involved in the matter.
However, though there was discussion about the issue Monday night, no board action was taken,
and Bartolozzi has since said he will pursue the issue on his own through legal avenues.
Bartolozzi said he had an individual lunch meeting, called by Hansen, earlier this year, at which the
correspondence policy was discussed. He said that since that meeting Hansen has had other
individual conversations or meetings with a couple of other board members, which he called, "serial
correspondence. He was trying to reach a consensus to see if he's got the four votes. Even if that's
not a violation of the Act, it's certainly a violation of the spirit and intent of the law."
"There was information disseminated to some board members and not all," Bartolozzi added. "It
could have been phone, verbal or e-mail. The public has a right to see this. There was no
deliberation at the last board meeting. It was very matter of factly voted on. Some board members
had been provided with information ahead of the meeting, and some weren't.
"At this point, I'm involved in an Open Meetings violation as well," he continued. "I want to clear my
name. And the Attorney General's office has told me that there is something to look into here."
"I have a lot of respect for Mark and his service to the community," Hansen said later on Tuesday. "I
was really disappointed he would make these accusations. They are factually and legally incorrect
and just plain wrong. And when he's eventually told they are wrong, I hope he will apologize with the
same public fervor and excitement that he made the accusations."
Hansen pointed to the fact that the correspondence policy had been discussed in earnest by the
board and administration since last year. The main controversial issue, whether or not
correspondence grades should count as pass/fail or an actual letter grade on a student's transcript,
hasn't changed for many months, he added.
"It was obvious from the get-go that was the sticking point," Hansen continued. "If we changed the
policy to pass/fail, we knew it would pass. I met with Bob (Gillum, Ball-Chatham Superintendent) last
October when this was first discussed and voted down. There was no great conspiracy here. Bob
asked me to hold off until a different solution could be found, and I did. But this issue kept coming up
until I was pushed into a corner. I gave Rick (Carr, then the board president) a copy of the proposed
policy a week before the (May) meeting, and I gave a copy to Bob, and they were free to disseminate it
as they saw fit. I think that Mark was looking for the ambush quality here, and it's very disappointing."
At the meeting, board members deliberated the issue for a while, with comments from Carr, Matt
Keppler and Kathy Lundin included, with Carr and Keppler engaging in a brief verbal spar. Joe
Hartzler had left the meeting by the time the issue, which was last on the regular agenda, was
discussed.
Open Meetings Act
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
Ball-Chatham Board of Education member Mark Bartolozzi has alleged that board president Patrick
Hansen has violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act, or at least violated the "spirit of the Act".
Bartolozzi brought the matter up Monday night to the school board, stating that last month's vote to
institute a new correspondence course policy at Glenwood High School should be declared "null and
void".
"I'm not suggesting there was a deliberate violation (of the Open Meetings Act), Bartolozzi
explained. "But even an inadvertent act is a violation of the spirit of the Act. And it bothers me deeply."
Bartolozzi suggested that Hansen, an assistant U.S. Attorney who brought forth the revised
correspondence policy that was approved 4-3 by the board, "collaborated" with several other board
members prior to the vote at the May meeting to gauge whether or not he had the four votes necessary
for the measure to pass.
According to the Open Meetings Act, a maximum of two board members may discuss school board
business outside of the public meeting arena. If three or more get together to discuss business
outside of regular meetings it would be considered a violation.
"I respectfully disagree with your assumptions and conclusions," Hansen responded at the
meeting to Bartolozzi. "I never met with more than one member at a time to discuss any issues. I let
this go the last time, because I don't respond to personal attacks. But this is a legal accusation.
We're talking about an issue that was discussed for three or four meetings at length."
Bartolozzi added that he has been in contact with the local State's Attorney and State Attorney
General's offices, and he was hopeful that the school board might want to get its own attorney
involved in the matter.
However, though there was discussion about the issue Monday night, no board action was taken,
and Bartolozzi has since said he will pursue the issue on his own through legal avenues.
Bartolozzi said he had an individual lunch meeting, called by Hansen, earlier this year, at which the
correspondence policy was discussed. He said that since that meeting Hansen has had other
individual conversations or meetings with a couple of other board members, which he called, "serial
correspondence. He was trying to reach a consensus to see if he's got the four votes. Even if that's
not a violation of the Act, it's certainly a violation of the spirit and intent of the law."
"There was information disseminated to some board members and not all," Bartolozzi added. "It
could have been phone, verbal or e-mail. The public has a right to see this. There was no
deliberation at the last board meeting. It was very matter of factly voted on. Some board members
had been provided with information ahead of the meeting, and some weren't.
"At this point, I'm involved in an Open Meetings violation as well," he continued. "I want to clear my
name. And the Attorney General's office has told me that there is something to look into here."
"I have a lot of respect for Mark and his service to the community," Hansen said later on Tuesday. "I
was really disappointed he would make these accusations. They are factually and legally incorrect
and just plain wrong. And when he's eventually told they are wrong, I hope he will apologize with the
same public fervor and excitement that he made the accusations."
Hansen pointed to the fact that the correspondence policy had been discussed in earnest by the
board and administration since last year. The main controversial issue, whether or not
correspondence grades should count as pass/fail or an actual letter grade on a student's transcript,
hasn't changed for many months, he added.
"It was obvious from the get-go that was the sticking point," Hansen continued. "If we changed the
policy to pass/fail, we knew it would pass. I met with Bob (Gillum, Ball-Chatham Superintendent) last
October when this was first discussed and voted down. There was no great conspiracy here. Bob
asked me to hold off until a different solution could be found, and I did. But this issue kept coming up
until I was pushed into a corner. I gave Rick (Carr, then the board president) a copy of the proposed
policy a week before the (May) meeting, and I gave a copy to Bob, and they were free to disseminate it
as they saw fit. I think that Mark was looking for the ambush quality here, and it's very disappointing."
At the meeting, board members deliberated the issue for a while, with comments from Carr, Matt
Keppler and Kathy Lundin included, with Carr and Keppler engaging in a brief verbal spar. Joe
Hartzler had left the meeting by the time the issue, which was last on the regular agenda, was
discussed.
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: June 19, 2008