It’s not as if Huntley School District 158 didn’t know it had a problem.

Assuming that its board secretary watched the tape of its May 17th meeting, which stopped at 10:44 PM.

Let’s see. That was six months ago.

And the last meeting, at which former school board president Mike Skala was appointed to a place he lost in the April election, there was a dispute about whether four of the board majority had made up its mind before the secret appointment decision-making meeting.

Minority members Larry Snow and Aileen Seedorf said they had.

Of course, there is nothing illegal about people making up their minds before a meeting, that is, unless they all talked to each other at the same time or participated in chain email exchanges to make the decision.

Board president Shawn Green, who is his work-a-day life is a policeman, said the majority had not made up its mind and would release a tape to prove it.

As soon as I read the Daily Herald’s Jameel Naqvi’s November 14th Wednesday article (now not available online), I filed a November 15th Freedom of Information request by FAX for the recordings of both the public and secret meeting referenced. (I’m sure the District 158 folks were amused that I dated the request 11/45/7.)

Just back from Disney World, I see that Naqvi wrote a November 21st Wednesday article in which Green says the school board staff screwed up again.

Well, those were not his exact words. Maybe he was trying to protect the reputation of his buddy Glen Stewart. I don’t know whether Stewart is responsible for this function with his over $100,000 job of Chief Operating Officer, but I did see him trying to make sure the recording device in the board room was working once.

Green said the district will buy a machine with a bigger memory.

I wonder if District158 will follow McHenry County Board member Tina Hill’s committee’s example and install a system where the camera points itself toward whoever is talking.

In the video of the system District 158 uses now, the board members’ heads are quite small.

And, aren’t you glad that the Huntley School District staff has no law enforcement responsibility?

Gathering of evidence problems come to mind.

Following the Open Meetings Act requirement that secret meetings be recorded also comes to mind.

Clearly someone is incapable…assuming the repeat of the known May 17th problem was not deliberate.

And, District 158 wasn’t capable of getting a reply to my November 15th Freedom of Information request to me by today.