Charles Flowers arrested

Daily Southtown (Duaa ElDeib):

Regional Supt. Charles Flowers was charged today with theft by the Cook County state's attorney's office....

Flowers turned himself in about 1 p.m. to sheriff's police in Maywood. He was accompanied by his attorney, Tim Grace.

I linked to ElDeib's article first because he's been the most vigilant about covering Flowers at the Regional Office of Education.

The following media outlets also have coverage:

Chicago Breaking News Center (Matthew Walberg)
WBBM 780 AM
Chicago Public Radio (links to an interview with Flowers)

What to say?

Having dealt with Flowers and his staff, I can attest to the office being run in an unprofessional manner.

I did a small amount of work for the ROE making video recordings of meetings. While Flowers and his staff were accustomed to manufacturing thin excuses to eat and drink on the office credit card, it was difficult to get them to pay me relatively small amounts of money for recording meetings.

On one occasion I arrived to record a meeting which necessitated leaving another job early. I arrive to complaints from various people, including Flowers. I was accused of not returning phone calls. Apparently, one of Flowers' assistants had given him the wrong number for me.

Members of Flowers' staff claim the office has never had sufficient resources to fulfill its mandates without either going in to debt or getting subsidies from the Cook County Board. This is probably true, however, mismanagement and misprioritized spending were a problem.

Based on what I saw of putting meals on the credit card and an attempt to put a bar tab on the credit card, it seems credible that Flowers and his people got sloppy and crossed the line and spent taxpayer money on stuff that was clearly personal expenses.

Flowers has been abyssmal at handling the media. He has avoided taking questions from Duaa ElDeib and in one instance Flowers' sister called and left a snotty voicemail.

Flowers, the ROE and the Illinois State Board of Education

Have you been following the drama for Charles Flowers, Regional Superintendent Suburban Cook County Schools?

Flowers was investigated for various allegations of misuse of funds. Since then various entities have acted unsympathetically to the ROE (Regional Office of Education).

Cook County demanded repayment of a loan. The ROE didn't have the money. The ROE's landlord (Westchester elementary schools) demanded payment of back rent. The ROE didn't have the money. The ROE got an office in Broadview, but was shut down for lack of an occupancy permit. Now there is no office and the ROE functions aren't being done. See Daily Southtown (Duaa ElDeib).

If you're one of about 25,000 teachers or administrators in any of the 143 school districts needing the services of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, try back later.

Has Flowers made mistakes? Have his actions cast doubt on his competence?

Yes.

Would the Village of Broadview normally keep a government office from operating for 30 days for lack of an occupancy permit?

I doubt it. But Flowers has few friends. And life is harder when no one wants to help you and lots of people are looking to "throw you under the bus".

But I'd like to step back.

If the Illinois State Board of Education and other authorities in the bureaucracy are willing to let Flowers and the ROE twist in the wind, what's the say about the office?

It seems to me a major function of the ROEs across Illinois is to obfuscate accountability when the Illinois State Board of Education either incorrectly processes paperwork or takes a long time. The teacher or district submitting documents can't be sure if the ROE is responsible or the Illinois State Board of Education.

The ROEs are funded by state government (Illinois General Assembly and Governor). So, when something goes wrong at one ROE the recourse goes through Springfield. But the ROEs serve parts of the state.

If the President of the Cook County Board makes a mistake, s/he has to answer to the commissioners. Virtually every executive in the U.S. political system has to answer to a legislative body with the power of the purse and the legislative body serves the same group of voters as the executive.

One of the few (only?) exceptions is a ROE in Illinois. They don't have local legislative bodies to hold them accountable. So, someone who lacks the competence to do the job can get elected and it's not clear how to remove the person or hold her/him accountable.

The Flowers debacle shows the office should be eliminated as an elective office and be appointed by the governor or the state superintendent of education.

Team Flowers would probably argue the office doesn't have the funding to do the job it's expected to do. So, many of the financial problems of the Flowers administration originate with the office being underfunded. This is probably true, but....

Did the Flowers administration use the money it had wisely?

It seems clear that some money was either misspent or spent without the required documentation that it was spent properly.

Has Flowers handled the media well?

No.

Are other public officials, including elected officials, withholding money from the ROE that would probably go to the ROE if Flowers hadn't gotten himself into trouble?

Probably.

Even the most pro-Flowers interpretation of the situation is that he and his appointees made a mess. And Flowers lacks the skills to dig himself and the office out of the hole. And the Illinois State Board of Education seems content to allow the Suburban Cook County ROE to founder.

PS It does seem like Proviso's state legislators could do something to improve the situation. Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) is on the Senate Education Committee and has been the chair in the past. Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst) is the senior Republican on that committee. Like Lightford and Cronin State Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood) is on her chamber's Education Committee. Yarbrough is the Democratic Committeeman for Proviso Township. And she's the person who persuaded the Cook County Democratic Party to nominate Flowers. Although she and Flowers are not as tight as they were.

bad PR for Flowers' ROE

SouthtownStar (Angela Caputo) rips the Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education. (h/t Proviso Insider)

Flowers appoints Miller-Berryhill to District 89 board

Suburban Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education press release:

Westchester, Illinois – September 25, 2007 –Dr.Charles A. Flowers, Regional Superintendent of Suburban Cook County Schools, today appointed Mrs. Sandra Miller-Berryhill to serve on the School District 89 Board of Education. Mrs. Berryhill a lifelong Maywood resident is married with 3 children currently enrolled in District 89 schools. Mrs. Berryhill serves as the Vice President of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at Irving Elementary School in the district, and past President of the PTA, position she has proudly held for the past two terms. A professional counselor on faculty at Triton College (www.triton.edu), Mrs.Berryhill obtained a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts from Mundelein College and a Masters Degree in Counseling from Illinois State University. “I am pleased to appoint Mrs. Berryhill as she brings an impressive background of professionalism, integrity and community involvement. She is focused on improving the quality of education for all students in District 89 and ensuring the fiscal accountability for the tax payers of the district. She has a clear understanding of the divisive politics that continue to plague the district and is committed to making a difference. Her background and experience make Mrs. Berryhill an ideal candidate to serve the students, parents and constituents of District 89.” states Dr.Charles A. Flowers.

The appointment of Mrs. Berryhill was a result of a vacancy created by the resignation of District 89 School Board Member Patricia Samuel-McFall, effective July 13, 2007. The Board of Education of School District 89 had 45 days from that date to fill the vacancy. The vacancy was not filled. Therefore, according to Illinois State law, “the Regional Superintendent under whose supervision and control the district is operating . . . shall within 30 days after the remaining members have failed to fill the vacancy, fill the vacancy as provided for herein . . .” (105 ILCS 5/10-10; Board of Education; Term; Vacancy).

D209 board of education declares Flowers' seat vacant

Today at 7 PM the Proviso Township High Schools Board of Education (District 209) board of education held a special meeting to declare the seat held by Charles Flowers, EdD, vacant.

The seat was declared vacant by a 5-1 vote. Board member Theresa Kelly voted “nay” and Flowers did not attend. Board member Dan Adams made the motion to declare Flowers' seat vacant. After a period of time when the board president was fishing for a second, the president said board member Robin Foreman seconded the motion, although her second was inaudible to the audience.

The meeting was held at Proviso Math and Science Academy. The meeting was sparsely attended. The meeting was announced on Friday, June 29, the day Flowers took the oath to be Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education. Flowers was elected to the four-year term on November , 2006. Induction as Regional Superintendent of Education happens on July 1 so turnover will happen while schools are on summer break.

I was one of two citizens to speak on the issue.

My position is that Flowers should have resigned. This would avoid the appearance of partisan politics and conflict of interest when Flowers exercises oversight of District 209. The board of education should not remove Flowers by declaring his seat vacant at this point. The district should seek guidance from the Cook County State's Attorney or Illinois Attorney General. If the state's attorney or AG says Flowers needs to resign then he'll presumably.

Instead the board majority had their political hack law firm write an opinion that cites case law and Illinois AG opinion but ultimately rests on a judgment call.

Arbdella Patterson also gave a statement to the board. She drew attention to the numerous conflicts-of-interest that either exist for board members or applied to past votes. Board member Reatha “Sue” Henry argued with Patterson during her public comment. Henry didn't like Patterson mentioning Henry voted (4-3 vote) to hire her daughter as a secretary. And Henry argued that it wasn't a conflict of interest for her to vote on her boss Eugene Moore to make $150,000+ per year as the district's insurance broker because she works for Moore in his capacity as Cook County Recorder of Deeds, not his insurance business.

Board president Emanuel “Chris” Welch didn't maintain order when Patterson was speaking. So, I figured if it was fair for Henry to interrupt Patterson, I could call out the attorney, Michael Del Galdo, of Giglio & Del Galdo on his BS.

Things Del Galdo said to the board:

• Flowers was notified of the meeting at 6:28 PM on Friday. Although, as board member Robert Cox noted after the meeting Flowers had been aware of the issue for a long time. Cox had asked Flowers about it. Del Galdo said a lawyer—presumably from his firm—was at the swearing in ceremony to make it official that Flowers' seat could be declared vacant.
• Del Galdo repeated the point a number of times that the legal opinion was based on “incompatability of office” not conflict of interest. This was mostly twisting words since the two ways the offices were incompatible came back to conflict of interest issues. Two offices are incompatible if one exercises supervision and control or if on apportions or distributes money to the other.
• Del Galdo claimed—in response to my critique that the litigation connected to Flowers assuming duties as Regional Superintendent—that there would be no need to bill District 209 for legal services from this point forward because now the issue would be in the hands of the state's attorney and AG who have to rule on declaring Flowers' seat vacant now. Something tells me this is a lie. Del Galdo knows he and the board have created a situation that will probably require legal work. And the law firms aren't going to do the work for free. We'll see if Del Galdo keeps his word and stops billing for this issue from tonight forward.

Cox made a point that was somewhat dishonest. He said that if the board position remains vacant for 45 days then Flowers will appoint someone to fill the vacancy. I assume Cox realizes Welch didn't engineer declaring Flowers seat vacant the first working day of July just to let Flowers appoint his replacement.

Cox also expressed regret Flowers wasn't present to explain his explanation for whether holding both offices was “incompatible”.

Kelly started a speech opposing the motion to declare a vacancy. Welch tried to call the question for a vote, but Kelly wouldn't yield.

Some stuff happened after the meeting adjourned.

I had words with Del Galdo. I tried to ask him a question. He refused. He told me, “If you want to get treated like a professional you need to act like one.” Forgive me, Mr. Del Galdo, but I've seen how your kind act. There's no point in being polite and hoping for modest reforms of “half a loaf”. You are aligned with a political machine that's going to do what it wants. So, don't expect critics to be polite. When dealing with greedy political hacks, politeness is for chumps.

Welch and Pioneer Press reporter Chuck Fieldman had words. Fieldman is from the camp that thinks everybody involved with District 209 is tainted, if not equally tainted. Fieldman was trying to get Welch to comment on the story he's doing on the photocopier contract. See Proviso Herald (Chuck Fieldman). Welch was yelling at Fieldman, which is rare. Welch was a communications major at Northwestern. He's pretty good at presenting himself when he's on the top of his game. Welch refused to answer Fieldman's question and ended-up yelling across the room, “Your paper is nothing but a political rag. You can print that.”

Cox encouraged me to apply to be a school board member.

A07, what happened in District 89? [D89]

Going into last Tuesday's election all District 89 (Maywood & Melrose Park elementary schools) school board members were allied with either Melrose Park village President Ron Serpico or Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore. None of the school board members were aligned with State Representative (and Democratic Committeeman) Karen Yarbrough or Charles Flowers, EdD. Flowers was elected Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education in November and will begin his term in July.

Yarbrough and Flowers ran a slate against a slate backed by Serpico and Moore. Five seats were up for election: four four-year terms and one two-year term created by the death of Jose Montoya.

The slate backed by Serpico and Moore won all five seats.

The Yarbrough-Flowers slate ceded Melrose Park. Of the slate's five candidates none were from Melrose Park. The slate hardly campaigned in Melrose Park. And Yarbrough failed to use her power as committeeman to replace polling place judges loyal to Melrose Park village president Ron Serpico.

Yarbrough's team probably saw the low Melrose Park turnout in 2006 and assumed Serpico had lost the fire in the belly or was pre-occupied with the federal investigation of the village. In 2006 Serpico was trying to pass a tax increase referendum and may have wanted low turnout. In 2007 Serpico's trustee candidates were being challenged by a slate backed by Jesse Martinez, a trustee in both Proviso Township and Stone Park. Serpico flexed the muscle of the Melrose Park machine. The large turnout in Melrose Park overwhelmed Yarbrough's advantage in Maywood where her husband Henderson Yarbrough is the village president.

This entry has a macro analysis of the election.

A07, letters to editor Proviso school district race [D209]

Forest Park Review received enough letters to the editor that it put some in the paper and posted the rest online.

In the paper version Proviso First Party candidate Bob Cox had the following letter.

Proviso First

I want to thank the Forest Park Review editors for giving me their endorsement. I also appreciate the paper's call to the public to give the District 209 board of education election the "time of day."

Because the election process only allows sound bytes and monologues, it was unfortunate that no forum was really made available to all the candidates in the 209 BOE race.

To set the record straight, my colleagues Robin Foreman and Carla Johnson are neither bureaucrats nor politicians. Some of their qualities have gone unnoticed. Robin's experience with people and as a proven manager is valuable to the stabilization of the fragmented BOE. She will be a catalyst for remedying complacency. Carla Johnson understates her role as administrative assistant to Sen. Kimberly Lightford for the past eight years. Ask any CEO or senior executive how important their assistants truly are. She will be a conduit to the BOE in researching and monitoring state policies, and her "can do energy" is clearly an asset for the daunting tasks ahead of us.

The Proviso First Party is a team I'm proud to be on and one that will serve the entire Proviso community well. We are running because we are stakeholders in the Proviso community. We are a fresh start. I see nothing gained to align myself to anyone or anything but principles and common sense. This is common ground we the Proviso First candidates all share.

Online District 209 board member Charles Flowers, EdD, had the following letter published. He supports the Education Reformers slate.

Flowers calls for change

As a member of the board of education for Proviso Township high schools, I have been part of the minority along with Theresa Kelly and Gary Marine. We have been the minority that has questioned the decisions and actions of the board majority, led by Christopher Welch that has failed our students, teachers, schools and residents.

I endorse the slate that includes Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and Theresa Kelly. I appreciate that the Forest Park Review endorsed Harris and McDermott, two of the candidates needed to change the leadership of the school board. However, without electing the full slate, you will be subjecting students and taxpayers to more of the same from Christopher Welch and the board majority--an employment agency for their families and friends and continued failure of our students!

Without changing the leadership of the board of education; I know from first hand experience that it would be foolish to expect that Christopher Welch would change how he has and continues to micromanage District 209!

The Forest Park Review's criticism of Mrs. Kelly and the board minority is misleading and baseless! The newspaper seems to want Mrs. Kelly and the board minority to take responsibility for district problems that have been created by decisions driven by the board majority! Did it bother you that the current superintendent and the board majority refused to terminate the pay for play contract of $160,000 to Eugene Moore, recorder of deeds? He receives a monthly check of $15,800 as the insurance broker for the district at the expense of needed programs for under performing students and increased medical insurance premiums for employees of the District! Imagine, Mr. Moore is rewarded for services that are and have never been rendered to the district! Please forgive and excuse my outrage for wanting to use our tax dollars for students!

Christopher Welch and the superintendent (or CEO when Welch placed the unqualified and rubber stamp of Robert Libka in charge that led to an additional $9 million in deficit spending and failure to seek approval from the full board of education $10,000 to attend a graduate program to obtain the superintendent's endorsement at Western Illinois University, during work hours!) sets the agenda for board meetings. How about committee reports that are chaired by the board majority that are and have never been reported on to the full board or public. Recently, until the legal department of the Illinois State Board of Education intervened to uphold district policy that ensures that all board members in District 209 shall enjoy placing items on the agenda, the practice by the superintendent (Stanley Fields) and board president Christopher Welch has been to shut out input from the board minority! This practice supports your assertion that "the last six or seven months we can count on one hand the number of times that the word 'student' was used by an incumbent board member." Shame on the superintendent and Chris Welch for producing a board agenda focused on contracts and employment for friends and family!

It is indeed unfortunate that the actions of the board majority taints the full board. What's even more criminal to our students and taxpayers is that the Students First Party (Robin Foreman, Carla Johnson, and Bob Cox) are purporting that they intend to stop the patronage hiring and play for pay politics! These candidates are supported by the current board majority (Christopher Welch, Sue Henry, Dan Adams, and Shirley Madlock) that supports these practices! Yet you warn Bob Cox not to get to close to any of the incumbent board members! Mr. Cox has already associated and joined himself with the primary board member (Christopher Welch) that has led our students to the lowest PSAE test scores in the almost 100 year history of District 209! We can not afford to continue to have individuals make recommendations and decisions in the best interest of our students based on blind faith and personal interests! The reality is that Bob Cox is running with a slate that has a candidate (Robin Foreman) who is the aunt of Nikita Johnson-business manager for District 209 and Carla Johnson, the mother of Eugene Moore's grandson - get the picture! To add insult to injury, this group in their second glossy brochure mailer to Proviso Township residents is advocating "the board must initiate a district wide reading program in our grammar schools." Excuse me, but wouldn't that be an initiative that the feeder school boards of education in cooperation with the superintendent initiate? Have they forgotten that they are candidates for District 209?

Having an individual at the table from a specific community in no way guarantees that they will represent what is best for students. What's important is that who ever sits at the table regardless of the community that they represent, understands that all decisions that are made for students representing the 10 communities of District 209 are driven by the following question: How does it impact student achievement and learning?

The most essential step is to get the board to function properly by selecting a new president and board members that truly put students first!

The only way to get a new president of the board of education is to elect Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and Theresa Kelly. All the other candidates in the race have committed to voting for Christopher Welch to remain as the leader of the board of education ... this includes Bob Cox!

The question that rest with all the stakeholders involved in District 209 is can and do the students and taxpayers deserve two more years of Christopher Welch leadership? The answer is absolutely, NO!

That being said, voters would do well to show Bob Cox the door!

Charles A. Flowers, Ed.D
District 209 Board of Education member,
Suburban Cook County Regional Superintendent of Schools - Elect

There are also letters in support of the Education Reformers by Michael Brooks of Broadview and State Representative Karen Yarbrough.

And board member and candidate Theresa Kelly wrote:

Kelly for D209

While I was not endorsed by the Forest Park Review, I ask for the support of all voters who see the need to reform Proviso Township High Schools, District 209.

I am running with a slate of candidates under the banner "Education Reformers." The two candidates joining me on the slate are Kevin McDermott of Westchester and Ralph Harris of Bellwood, both excellent candidates and both are endorsed by the Forest Park Review.

I am running for re-election because I want to improve Proviso Township high schools by replacing the machine politics of school board President Chris Welch and his political boss (Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore) with fiscally responsible education strategies focused on students and their families.

Chris Welch has run Proviso Township high schools into the ground. Test scores are 90th of 90 high school districts in the Chicago area. The deficits have become untenable, even after Welch obtained a "back door" referendum to increase property taxes without the permission of the voters. Crony hiring and promotion is rampant and demoralizing to teachers and staff. A number of large contracts have been awarded to the politically connected, many of who gave large contributions to either Welch's school board race or his campaign for state representative. This is not acceptable.

There are seven seats on the board of education. Three are up for election on Tuesday, April 17.

To keep control of the school board, only one Welch supporter needs to win; to switch control of the school board all three candidates from the "Education Reformers" slate need to be elected. Do you want to wait two more years to begin the process of reforming your public high school district?

I'd like to respond to the Forest Park Review's criticisms of my service on the board of education. However, the criticisms were extremely vague and not based on factual information. I am frustrated the Forest Park Review failed to specify its reservations about my service.

The Forest Park Review has been a valuable partner in the process of improving Proviso Township High Schools. The coverage, analysis and columns in the Forest Park Review have been essential to explaining the issues facing the district. People read the Forest Park Review across Proviso Township for the coverage of District 209.

I ask all voters to support Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and me (Theresa Kelly), so we can join board member Charles Flowers. Give us a chance to show that Proviso Township High Schools can be better.

A07, Yarbrough/Flowers school board candidates have website [D88, D89, D209]

Citizens for Better Schools has a website. Citizens for Better Schools is the umbrella organization supporting the Yarbrough/Flowers candidates in District 88 (Bellwood & Stone Park elementary schools), District 89 (Maywood & Melrose Park elementary schools) and District 209 (Proviso Township High Schools).


Rep. Karen Yarbrough is also the Proviso Township Democratic Committeeman. Charles Flowers, EdD, is a member of the District 209 board of education and was elected as the Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education in November. He takes office in July.

The alliance between Yarbrough and Flowers grew from their opposition to Emanuel "Chris" Welch, the current president of the District 209 board of education.

Flowers leads the minority block on the District 209 board. If his candidates sweep the election (three seats) he will be able to form a majority and replace Welch as president of the school board.

Welch ran against Yarbrough in the Democratic Primary for state representative in March, 2006. The coalition that coalesced to support Yarbrough included many people who had grievances against Welch. Welch had been the school district attorney at District 88. So, various people who opposed his actions at District 88 and 209 joined Yarbrough's organization.

ED, Stan Fields scheduled to be on "Viewpoints" [D209]

Proviso Township High Schools superintendent Stan Fields, PhD, is scheduled to appear on "Viewpoints From the Other Side" on WJJG, 1530 AM, Saturday, March 17, 2-3 PM.

My understanding is that Fields will take questions from guests that call the show.

I drafted some questions that I hope get asked. I'm not satisfied with the list, so if you can improve the wording, please make suggestions. Also, feel free to suggest new questions and comment which questions you think are more important.

What's the best policy you've implemented at Proviso Township High Schools?

You advocate reducing the number of classes--all but eliminating electives--and concentrating on subjects covered by standardized tests. Would you choose to
attend school or send your children to high school in a district that implemented this policy?

Critics have said that eliminating electives is a cost-cutting policy disguised as an education policy. How many teachers could be cut if you succeed in reducing the number of classes?

When you were superintendent of Mundelein High School you implemented various cost-cutting policies and revenue enhancement policies. What services or
functions did you outsource or privatize? Did you recommend other services or functions be privatized only to have members of the board of education stop
you?

Is it true that board member Theresa Kelly sent you email requesting an issue be put on the agenda five times before you responded? And did you wait to respond until after the deadline for putting new action items on the agenda? And did you tell Kelly
that it was impossible to fulfill her request because the deadline had passed? Did you realize that Kelly's requested agenda item was not an action item? Were you deliberately working against the desires of board member Kelly? Or did you erroneously apply Illinois law by neglecting the difference between an action item and discussion?

During the superintendent's report of you first Proviso school board meeting (September, 2006) you opened the door to attacks on board members Charles
Flowers and Theresa Kelly. You gave board president Chris Welch a list of computer hardware that was "missing". Welch read one name from the list: Charles Flowers. Your list claimed Flowers had custody of a District 209 computer. Where was that computer? Did you ever apologize to Flowers?

During that meeting you accused board member Theresa Kelly of maintaining the funds for the Proviso East Wall of Fame in an illegal manner. Where does the bank
send the statements for that account? Have you changed how that fund is managed? Do you still think it is managed in an illegal manner?

You have alleged that board members have received cash advances for board travel but not reconciled the travel claims upon returning. What are the dates of these unrecognized travel claims? Which board members have unrecognized travel claims? What have you done to reconcile these travel claims? Have these board members traveled at District 209 expense since you became superintendent? Why didn't you require them to reconcile the past travel claims before allowing them to travel again? How much money do you expect to recover when these travel claims are reconciled?

You have referred to the "nonsense of the past" as if you are a break with past practices, even though Chris Welch remains president of the school board.
Specifically, what bad behavior was part of the "nonsense of the past"? What have you done to reduce or eliminate the "nonsense of the past"? Did your predecessor, Robert Libka, engage in the "nonsense of the past"? Why is he still on payroll?

The Daily Southtown has run a number of articles that insinuate that Kyle Hastings is a career ghost-payroll government worker. How many hours per week does Hastings spend at the PMSA building?

The issue of political patronage hiring is now openly acknowledged. In the past board member Theresa Kelly would ask if the political bosses had lobbied the superintendent or HR director on behalf of any applicants. If you assume that the superintendent and
HR director were answering questions truthfully then it seems likely that the politicians were working directly with department heads and staff members below
the superintendent to parcel the patronage. Would you be surprised if Chris Welch, Eugene Moore, Claude Porter, Ron Serpico, Dan Coglianese or their representatives were lobbying members of your staff to get "their people" jobs at District 209? Have you taken any action to stop or discourage this meddlingin hiring?

There are rumors that school board president Chris Welch and your business manager, Nikita Johnson, are dating. If this is true would it violate any laws or school district policies? Does it violate any of your policies? If it was true, would you fire Nikita Johnson?

How do you measure the level of violence at Proviso Township High Schools? What policies have you implemented to reduce violence against students and staff? Have your policies reduced violence?

These are some other subjects for which I haven't drafted specific questions:

• Open Meetings Act
• website
• EMM, unnecessary insurance payments to Eugene Moore
• why is Eugene Moore "in the loop" on district decision making
• nominating petitions

"Viewpoints From the Other Side" is a weekly radio program hosted by Arnie Bryant.

ED, school board meeting website, vision & tutoring [D209]

Monday, February 19, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) held its monthly meeting of the board of education at Proviso Math and Science Academy.

Scott of Technivista briefed the board and audience on the new website for District 209. When the contract is completed there will be six new websites. I’ll write more on the website later. Feel free to post comments in this discussion.

Scott did tell me that Technivista was not planning on contributing in the school board elections. He did add the caveat that his brother is the owner of the business.

The biggest news Superintendent Stan Fields buried among a bunch of other information. Fields proposed reducing the graduation requirements from 22 to 18.5 credits. He framed it as reducing the electives so students would focus more on the courses that prepared them for standardized tests. After the meeting board member Charles Flowers observed that this is a cost cutting move being packaged as an educational strategy. By having fewer period District 209 will be reducing the total number of classes which will allow the same number of students to be taught by fewer teachers.

Fields also offered a new vision statement for District 209. Fields vision is for the district to be the best in Illinois. For perspective the district currently ranks 90th of 90 districts in the Chicago area in four major categories.

How many ways is Fields vision inappropriate? Let’s start with the obvious. Fields doesn’t define “best”. Best at sports? Which sports? Highest test scores? Most graduates going directly to four-year colleges? High graduation rates? The most money diverted to political bosses? Maybe Proviso Township High Schools are already the best and we just didn’t know the yardstick Fields was using….

Four years ago I ran for school board in Oak Park and River Forest (District 200). Here’s what I listed as my goal for the school in my political literature.

Graduates should say, “My OPRF experience prepared me for adulthood.” We should prepare students to be citizens that take ownership of their communities and take advantage of opportunities to lead fulfilling lives.

Do you see how the goals I had for OPRF are specific enough that they can be used to craft policies? Do you see how Stan Fields’ vision is so vague as to be meaningless for making policies or setting priorities?

Some of Fields suggestions I thought had merit.

Fields wants to push extra-curricular, co-curricular and community service. He expressed a goal of getting all students involved in some activity. This goal seems worth investment of resources.

I also liked the idea of switching to proficiency promotion. However, it’s easy to agree that all students should be required to become proficient before getting promoted. It will be harder to implement the policy.

The teachers that implement the letter of the policy will look like failures compared to teachers who fudge and promote students who aren’t really proficient. If you accept the analysis that a major problem for District 209 is students entering who haven’t attained proficiency in eighth grade what do you want freshman teachers to do? Work intensively with the students who are behind? How much is District 209 willing to reduce class sizes?

Proviso East Principal Milton Patch briefed the board on the results of a test designed by ACT to measure if the eighth graders were on track to succeed on college entrance exams. In all feeder schools the average scores were unsatisfactory in math and science. Four schools were satisfactory in English (is Komarek a District 209 feeder school?) and only Forest Park had a satisfactory average reading score.

Patch listed a couple of plans for students in the lowest quartile. Mandatory summer school is obvious. District 209 also plans to do gender segregated education for students in the lowest quartile. I understand the logic, but I’m curious how it will play out. If segregating by gender improves academic performance why limit it to the lowest quartile?

One of the action items on the agenda was for the board to approve money for tutoring. Board member Charles Flowers asked if the money had been spent and the board was approving expenditures after-the-fact. Fields deferred to a staff member who was in the audience. She assured Flowers that the money hadn’t been spent yet. Flowers explained that the students who were eligible for this tutoring under the No Child Left Behind Act had been eligible since the beginning of the school year. The staff member explained this wasn’t a problem because the amount of money only covered 30-45 hours of tutoring and it was in the district’s best interest to have the students get the tutoring before the standardized tests in the Spring.

The staff members attitude pretty much showed the district’s attitude toward the students. Students are like pack animals who have value based on their ability to score well on tests. If I was a student and had 36 hours of tutoring over an academic year I’d probably take twelve hours at the beginning of each semester and six hours at the end of each semester. But due to bureaucratic considerations Proviso East students get their tutoring in one lump in the middle of second semester.

This is the sort of thing that’s annoying about District 209 generally. Fields and others find subtle ways to say the students and parents aren’t pulling their weight, but the superintendent and administrators don’t have the respect for the students and parents to allow them to use the school district as they see fit. Students eligible to tutoring get help when the district administrators get around to processing the paperwork, not when they want or need it.

Thomas Sloan, who I assume is related to Westchester political operative Don Sloan, was hired to be a night custodian at Proviso East for $38,481.04.

There was a debate about firing Marshonna Chambers from the business office in executive session. Chambers got blamed when a student stole some money from the business office. Her supervisors felt Chambers was negligently inattentive. Board members Flowers and Theresa Kelly were skeptical that Chambers was primarily at fault and thought it was at least partially a training and supervision problem. Board member Shirley Madlock was the board member most aggressively pushing to terminate Chambers. But Madlock backed-off somewhat when another board member asked if Madlock’s sister, Tamara Robinson, who works in the business office also, would benefit if Chambers were fired. In open session no board member even made a motion to terminate Chambers.