Lyons Township High Firing Its Law Firm?

LA GRANGE, IL – The Lyons Township High School board plans to vote Monday on whether to hire a new law firm to handle most of its legal business.

This comes months after the Chicago-based Franczek law firm failed to inform the board that it broke the state's open meetings law.

That failure led to an attorney general's order to release the recordings of closed meetings. The recordings revealed much of the intrigue surrounding a controversial land sale, likely embarrassing school board members and other top school officials.

At its meeting Monday, the board is set to vote on hiring the Itasca-based Hodges Loizzi law firm.

The board also plans to vote on hiring the Oakbrook Terrace-based Kriha Boucek law firm. From the firm's engagement letter, it appears Kriha Boucek would not be the school's main law firm. Its letter mentioned that its work may include investigations.

All three firms specialize in representing school districts.

The school's spokeswoman did not return an emailed message for comment Friday.

In late April, the attorney general's office issued a rare binding opinion against the school board requiring the release of recordings of two Jan. 23 closed sessions. The meetings were about selling the school's 70 acres in Willow Springs.

Under state law, the board was allowed to close its doors for setting the price of real estate, but the two hours of discussions rarely involved the price.

Franczek attorney Ares Dalianis attended both sessions, but never advised board members they were breaking the Open Meetings Act. He later declined to answer Patch's questions.

In the meetings, board members could be heard generally agreeing that a sale of the land to an industrial developer, which was the plan, would hurt nearby homeowners.

Members also bashed Willow Springs officials, saying they may be uneducated. One member repeatedly pushed what he labeled a conspiracy theory in which various enemies of the school were behind the residents' opposition to the land sale.

The members also discussed how the school kept secret its plans to sell the land from the village of Willow Springs and other public bodies.

During the meeting, Dalianis contended the village would be hard-pressed to deny industrial development for the school's property, which was next to a school, parkland, a country club, houses and a UPS facility.

He made such arguments even though the village's zoning code has long barred industrial uses on the property.

During the meetings, Dalianis did not inform the board that Illinois municipalities hold broad powers to deny exceptions to its zoning code.

Earlier this month, the school board announced it would change its approach to the land sale, this time involving the community.