Superintendent Gary Catalani’s checkbook and insurance co-pays will remain off limits to residents in Community Unit School District 200.
School Board candidate Mark Stern filed a lawsuit against the district in November in an attempt to have Catalani’s employment contract released after his requests and appeals through the state Freedom of Information Act were denied.
A judge at the DuPage County Circuit Court ruled last week in favor of District 200, allowing officials to keep Catalani’s contract confidential and continue to refuse public access. The decision was based on state statutes that exempt contracts from disclosure if they are kept in personnel files.
“We’re very pleased with the court’s ruling,” said John Relias, District 200’s attorney. “I was convinced that the state statute backed us up, so I was fairly confident about our case.”
According to the Illinois State Board of Education, Catalani’s salary is a little more than $380,000, making him the highest paid superintendent in the state.
Although base salaries for all school district employees are required by law to be reported and published, additional compensation in the form of bonuses, stipends, retirement incentives and insurance policies isn’t under the same disclosure requirements.
Stern said he wants details on any financial “perks” as well as a list of job duties and the salary raise structure so that he can assess whether the School Board has gone overboard with paying its chief.
But Catalani, who is retiring at the end of the academic year, said he is relieved that the courts avoided setting a dangerous precedent by violating privacy rights.
“If you have a multi-year contract, there are performance goals attached. As long as things are going fine, that’s not an issue,” he said. “But if the School Board, who is your boss, isn’t happy with your work, they might attach (clauses) that are remediatory in nature.
“You’re going down a slippery slope if you start pulling things out of that file since it’s personal and confidential,” Catalani added.
Relias argued that a similar case in Peoria involving a newspaper’s FOIA request for a superintendent’s performance evaluations and a letter detailing her dismissal supports District 200’s decision to keep personnel files sealed.
But Stern’s attorney, Robert Dawidiuk, disagreed. He said the district waived its right when officials allowed two local newspapers to see copies of Catalani’s contract.
“The evidence shows (District 200) doesn’t treat this document as a secret. That they’re dealing with Mark Stern differently than the media is a problem. They can’t pick and choose who they’d like to comply with,” he said. “They treat (Stern) as an adversary, and they’ve said they don’t think he’ll use the information fairly. That is a real problem.”
Dawidiuk said the Peoria precedent doesn’t apply to Stern’s case because his information request didn’t include an appeal for disciplinary letters and the Peoria district didn’t waive its rights by divulging the documents to hand-selected parties.
“The contract is a public document under the Illinois constitution. The plaintiff believes this. The Illinois attorney general believes this, as seen with the letters of support we received from the office,” Dawidiuk added.
Stern said he is not satisfied with the court’s decision on his lawsuit.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with this outcome,” he said. “But what’s more disappointing is that while the District 200 board showed the contract to two newspapers ... it keeps fighting to hide it from the taxpayers of our community who are obligated to pay for it.”
Stern has 30 days to appeal the ruling.
“We’re looking into it. We feel it’s an important enough issue to pursue,” he said. “So we’ll likely continue to press forward.”