Chicago Park District Sex Assault Allegations; Prime Example Of Why Closed Session Meetings Cannot Restrict First Amendment Speech –

Chicago, IL. (ECWd) –

We have written several articles dealing with a public official’s protected First Amendment right to tell anyone and everyone what was discussed during an executive (closed) session meeting, and to do so without fear of reprisal for such speech.

Essentially, the right to speak about closed session discussions keeps everyone honest, keeps them in compliance with the law, and in this case, might have prevented more sexual assaults of female lifeguards at the Chicago Park District pool, allegedly perpetrated by employees of the District.

After reading the article entitled “Chicago Park District leaders sat on a lifeguard abuse complaint for more than 6 months, a new report finds” – it became clear how supervisors and even the board president knew of the allegations for years and months before feigning any interest in confirming or denying the allegations.

If the board president knew, then the rest of the board should have known of the allegations, and we suspect some discussion was held in closed session related to these allegations and complaints. Any board member who knew of the allegations, and who failed to ensure action or investigation was immediately taken has failed the public and the victims. If only one board member would have went public with the allegations when investigations were not immediately commenced, it might have saved more females from becoming victims of park district employees.

The District did finally publish a statement on November 2, 2021 (here).

Silence is acquiescence, and cannot be tolerated.

The reports are here, and the victims are as young as 16 years old:

• Chicago Park District’s OIG Report, 3rd Quarter of 2021
• A & P Final Report on Park District Lifeguard Matter

We urge all public officials to take note: You must speak up when laws are being broken, even if it means you must speak about closed meeting discussions. Your duty to the people outweigh your duty to the public body you are a member of.