Sycamore school board hires two legal firms for different legal services

The Sycamore School District 427 board voted Tuesday night to hire two law firms: one as legal counsel and another for student-related matters.Before the vote, Superintendent Kristen Campbell said her administration recommended retaining Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick Kohn LLP as general counsel. She also said Fagen Friedman Fulfrost LLP, known as F3 Law, will work on “matters related to students and special education.” School board member Alex Grados, reading aloud from a document that, as of Thursday afternoon, has not been shared with the public, said the board’s vote instructs “the administration to direct all new legal matters to” the new counsel. Before the vote, Michael DeVito asked about the costs associated with the legal representation. “Two law firms doesn’t mean twice the legal cost, right?” DeVito said. Campbell said that is “correct.” However, no dollar amount was mentioned during the discussion, and no contract or representation of the cost for the legal service