A west suburban school board is paying $22,000 in legal fees to defend its president in a lawsuit alleging he made defamatory comments about the district’s former law firm on a blog.
Proviso Township High School District 209 President Chris Welch is accused of making the comments about Odelson & Sterk on the “Proviso Insider” (provisoinsider.blogspot.com). The blog comments on acts of the township and school board but is not affiliated with either.
The law firm denies the allegations, which have since been removed from the site.
Welch, a lawyer, confirmed he is one of several contributors to the blog, but he said he did not post the statements for which he is being sued.
School board member Theresa Kelly said the district should not be paying.
“You don’t do this to the taxpayers,” she said. “How can [Welch] feel that the school is liable? Why should the taxpayers have to pay for his mistakes? It’s an injustice.”
Kelly filed a complaint with Charles Flowers, regional superintendent of schools and a former Proviso school board member, and Flowers said he passed it along to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Flowers said the suit appears to be a personal one, and having the district pay “does not speak to good fiscal management.”
An attorney for the school district said the district’s practice is to reimburse the legal fees for board members “when damages are sought for negligent or wrongful acts allegedly committed during the scope of employment or under the direction of the Board of Education.”
Kelly said contributing to the blog was not part of Welch’s duties as school board president, but rather something he chose to do.
The board’s vote does not include future legal fees or any fines or settlement money Welch could be required to pay. A spokeswoman for the district said the board may vote on these issues as they arise.
The school district was not named in the lawsuit, but a law clerk at Welch’s firm was listed as a defendant.
Welch said he would not answer questions at the heart of the lawsuit and would not say if contributing to the blog was part of his duties.
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jnapolitano@tribune.com
