EAST ALTON, IL – The Illinois Attorney General’s office (AG) determined further action is warranted regarding an Open Meetings Act violation filed by the East Alton Education Association (EAEA) against the East Alton School District 13 Board of Education (BOE). The EAEA filed the violation after East Alton School District Board Member Connie Bailey sent text messages related to her campaign during closed session of the BOE meeting.
“School board members should never be campaigning during a board meeting. That time is meant to be discussing how to best serve our students and our community,” EAEA President Pete Kleeman said. “We look forward to the outcome of the attorney general’s investigation.”
A letter from the AG’s office details what evidence they are requesting to review during their investigation, including a voice recording of the BOE’s closed session on Feb. 18.
The text messages in question were sent by Bailey to an EAEA union representative during closed session on Feb. 18. In the messages, Bailey requests to meet with the union regarding an endorsement in the April 1 BOE election where Bailey was running as an incumbent.
The approved minutes from the Feb. 18 meeting show Bailey was in attendance and the board was in executive session from 7:48 p.m. to 8:49 p.m. The text messages are all time stamped and show they were sent during closed session.
“While I was shocked to receive the messages during the meeting, I can’t say I’m surprised,” Kleeman said. “The board has a history of questionable behavior, including irresponsibly spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. All of this is a massive distraction from the true work of the board, which is figuring out the best way to support our students.”
The East Alton BOE has engaged in questionable behavior in the past, including:
- Spending $7,000 to hire a private investigator to follow the D13 superintendent (bill attached);
- Appropriating more than $300,000 in payments to three different superintendents at the same time;
- Repeated failures to timely replace school board members who resigned, which resulted in a short-staffed board responsible for pivotal district decisions.
The BOE now has seven days to respond to the request for additional information from the AG’s office.
The EAEA is a union representing the more than 60 certified personnel, including teachers, social workers, psychologists and speech pathologists, of East Alton School District 13. EAEA’s mission is to advocate for the welfare of members, improve the quality of education in District 13 and serve as a voice for the nearly 700 East Alton students and their families.
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest union. IEA represents Pre K-12 teachers outside the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
