Yorkville Y115 violated state Open Meetings Act with closed session on ‘Just Mercy’ book removal: AG

The Illinois Attorney General’s Office has determined the Yorkville School District 115 violated the state’s Open Meetings Act when it met in closed session this summer to discuss the removal of the book “Just Mercy” from the district’s curriculum.

The Yorkville school board now must release the transcript of the closed meeting to the public, the Attorney General’s Office said in its opinion late Wednesday afternoon.

A response from the school board was not immediately available. The Attorney General had been investigating a complaint filed on Sept. 28 by Marseilles resident Mary Grzywa accusing the board of violating the state’s Open Meetings Act while discussing the book “Just Mercy” in closed session.

[ ‘Just Mercy’ - What’s the book at the center of controversy in Yorkville about? ]

The objection stemmed from the school board’s Aug. 7 decision – following the closed session – to prohibit the use of “Just Mercy” in a Yorkville High School English class. The board reversed an earlier decision and pulled the book from the English II Rhetorical Analysis course.

The Attorney General’s Office disagreed with the board’s contention that personnel issues were the main reason for the closed session.

“It is abundantly clear from the verbatim recording that the board was not in closed session to evaluate any specific employee’s job performance or actions, but to make a curriculum decision about the book ‘Just Mercy,’” the Attorney General’s Office said in its ruling.

In its ruling, the Attorney General’s Office said the discrete portions of the recording that refer to a particular student may be redacted. The Yorkville School Board has 35 days to appeal the ruling.

At its Aug. 7 meeting, the board on a 4-2 vote directed that the book may no longer be used in the course, although it will continue to be available in the school library.

Those voting in favor of removing the book from the class included board President Darren Crawford and board members Jason Demas, Mike Knoll and Mike Houston. Those voting no were board members Leslie Smogor and Shawn Schumacher. Board member Jason Senffner was absent and has since resigned from the board.

“Just Mercy” is a memoir that takes a hard look at America’s criminal justice system, by an attorney who dedicated himself to defending the poor and disadvantaged.

Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. His memoir was published in 2014 and made into a 2019 movie starring Michael B. Jordan.

According a statement released by Crawford as well as the meeting minutes, Knoll and Houston deemed the book “too controversial.”

The English II Rhetorical Analysis course is designed to engage students’ critical thinking skills.