_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

How do you hire and fire the same super on three separate occasions? From Bellwood to Lincoln-Way, bad school boards to be found all over.

This sums up Illinois right here:

Hendricks had earned more through suing her employers or getting bought out of contracts since the 2008-09 school year than through the time she spent working, state records show.

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Another example of the union that represents teachers holding tax payers hostage.

that school was looking to buy from me recently (i sell a firewall/content filter product) and in the end, was unable due to funding. like it was too the point where he was getting po's ready and contracts signed...and then all the sudden....nothing.

She's not a teacher. She isn't in a teacher's union. School administrators from superintendents down to assistant principals cannot belong to teachers' unions. Your anti-union bias here is misplaced.

The better question is to ask, both here and in places like Frankfort/Mokena (Lincoln Way), is which civic/business "leaders" are profiting from their relationships with the school districts? Especially here as Conns pointed out, this woman was hired on three separate occasions, twice after being fired.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Yep. All you have to do is track the arc of Ron Huberman to learn about the seediness that exists between Public and Private when it comes to education. Byrd Bennett was just a fucked deal but Huberman was egregious too, though not criminal. He essentially pimped the system as a means of cushioning his way into corporate America.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=w ... wCcvVle3Kg

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I guess I don't understand TRS. How could she pull all her money out in 98 and then go back to work in Chicago without having to repay TRS immediately?

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Forrest Claypool is my favorite.

He did it all backwards.

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Helped start up Axelrod's consulting firm iirc, became Daley's boy & later lost to Stroger one week after the man suffered a massive stroke . Then back to being the Mayor's Bobo. He has to have the oddest career arc of someone in public office now for over a quarter century.

And thanks LTG, I had completely forgotten about that sleazy bastard Huberman. If ever there was a person in local government who could oversee mass firings, dole out millions in new contracts to the "right" people and take credit for improvements he had nothing to do with, it was that little bastard. Of course I didn't even know about his role with Rauner, but it fits.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

This.

Plus, I think he started out as some sort of reformer candidate before becoming the Mauor's Bobo.

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RR, you can write a 2,000 page novel on Lincoln-Way's current situation.

*Button 48* As I gentleman who used to work there and will has MANY connections to it I have to say that everything is still not out into the light. All those shoes have yet to drop. Poor Dr Tingley.

As you remarked it's a textbook case of incestuous business/public relationships, a rubber stamp school board on the take, no one stating the obvious and an authoritarian super intendent driven by ego. Guess who built Dr Nas's vacation home?

By this time in 1.5-2 years they will be back to Central (a whole other story) and East. Right where they started but this time they have a stagnant tax base, junk bond rating and 1/2 billion dollars in bind debt. Yearly payments triple by 2020 or so. Although Dr Nas's house in Frankfort sold in one day....so there's that.

Can't say for sure, but it probably doesn't drift too far from the idea that anything can be deemed illegal but if nobody enforces it then it doesn't really matter what you deem it.

_________________
Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

I'm not often a hang 'em high kind of person, but these kinds of cases are the exception to me. Not only are they robbing/hamstring the kids, but they're screwing with property values and retirement plans for many of the families who bought in the area for the "good" schools, but now are saddled with ridiculous property taxes to pay for mammoth theft & waste.

I really want to see people like these folks and Barbara Byrd-Bennett just dropped into hell.

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

How are all these pensions going to be funded after everyone leaves this idiotic state?

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

Tis story is awesome. She hired her teacher aide daughter to a 70k a year directors position and had it writen into her contract the 105k loan she got to boost her pension by 63k a year doesn't have to be paid back.

Bellwood on June 20. (James Svehla / for the Chicago Tribune)
By Angela Caputo

Money in Bellwood School District 88 is tight. The district is steeped in debt, and many of the students come from low-income homes. The classroom basics — such as paper and calculators — are often paid for by teachers or through fundraisers, said PTA leader Maria Perez. Tablets or new textbooks are just a dream.

But that hasn't stopped leaders in the west suburban district from giving perks to the superintendent or traveling to conferences in five cities in less than a year. Nor has it curbed family hiring on the taxpayers' dime.


Compensation, travel bills and other expenses found by the Tribune in a series of open records requests raise new questions about spending in the troubled school district. Previous Tribune investigations found the district cycled through more superintendents than any other in the region in recent years, and it was mired in legal bills that, on a per-student basis, were among the highest in Chicago's suburbs.

Questions about the spending were referred to the school board president and District 88 attorney, neither of whom responded.


Meanwhile, student achievement continues to slide in the elementary school district. Teacher turnover grew over the past two years at a rate higher than 95 percent of districts in the Chicago area, state education records show. The personnel changes, from the superintendent post on down, have led to lawsuits, payouts and tension between administrators and the community.

"Your personnel matters are touching my tax dollars and affecting my property values," Bellwood resident Arnetta Watkins told the school board during a meeting last week.

Hiring

Children of both Superintendent Rosemary Hendricks and school board President Marilyn Thurman were added to the district's payroll during the last school year.

Hendricks' daughter Brittnay Atkinson was tapped last summer to fill a new student service coordinator job. At $70,000 a year, her salary was higher than those of 87 percent of teachers in the district.

According to Atkinson's job application with the district, she has a bachelor's degree in communications disorders from Saint Xavier University and one year of experience as a teacher's aide and special education assistant.

Hendricks' other daughter, Jocelyn Hendricks, who has an associate degree and is a licensed practical nurse according to her job application, was hired to fill a $78,500-a-year job as a district nurse. Last month, the school board agreed to keep her on over the summer as well — at a cost of $48 an hour.

Thurman's son Ferrell Wells was hired as a bus assistant. Thurman's daughter Carmen Jefferson-Thurman was hired as a lunch supervisor and building assistant.

"There is no nepotism policy — not that I know of," Hendricks told the Tribune in June. "Is my daughter not qualified?" She declined to comment on whether anyone else applied for the positions.

Hendricks' and Thurman's children could not be reached.

During last week's meeting, resident Deborah Giles chided the School Board for the district's hiring practices. "You make bad decisions for this village," she said. "Everything I've seen so far is hiring and firing. You're trying to take over jobs. Everyone is trying to get a piece of the pie."

Bonuses

Giles was among the taxpayers who gave district officials an earful at a Tuesday board meeting after the Tribune wrote about a $105,503 payment the School Board approved to replenish a retirement account that Hendricks personally cashed out years ago.

District 88's attorney said previously that Hendricks is required to repay the money to the district. But documents obtained by the Tribune last week show Hendricks is six months behind on the repayment agreement, which was adopted in September 2015 when District 88 paid the Illinois Teachers Retirement System on her behalf. As of May, Hendricks had repaid $7,300.

While Hendricks has 36 months to repay the district for the $105,000, there are only 12 months left in her $175,000-a-year contract. If she leaves the district, or is not rehired next year, there is no recourse for recouping the money, which, according to the agreement, "shall be considered compensation for services and part of the superintendent's severance."

The added contribution would increase annual pension benefits to $77,000 from an estimated $14,000 under TRS' benefits formula. Hendricks, 66, is now eligible to retire with the pension benefits of someone who has paid into the system for 25 years, though, as of last year, she had paid into it for only 41/2 years. Taxpayers across the state will pick up the tab, potentially for years to come.

Board members declined to comment on whether they read the terms of the agreement before approving it in September.

"When we were coming in as new board members, there were a lot of things presented to us," said board member Patricia Crawford, who ran on a reform ticket and was sworn in on the Bellwood school board in the spring of 2015. "I'm just going to say I've learned you have to do your research."

The Tribune found the pension perk isn't the only sweetener the school board added to Hendricks' compensation.

Last July, the School Board approved paying Hendricks for 18 days of her 24-day vacation time. In June, before the same school year ended, the board approved paying her an additional 15 days of unused vacation time.

Hendricks said the initial payment was compensation for her first nine months on the job when she worked for $750 a day as interim superintendent. However, there was no vacation time provided in that initial contract, district records show.

In all, the board approved paying Hendricks for 33 vacation days. The extra nine days on top of her 24 days per year amounts to an estimated $5,800 bonus.

Last year, auditors dinged the district because "Vacation and sick days are not tracked on a consistent basis" and noted other problems with record-keeping.

Travel

While Hendricks was paid as if she didn't take off a single day last year, she did travel extensively on the district's dime.

Over the months from March to November 2015, the superintendent and a handful of board members spent more than $20,000 on trips to Las Vegas; Nashville, Tenn.; Savannah, Ga.; Phoenix; and Washington, D.C. That didn't include the $8,300 in per diem reimbursements for related dining and travel expenses. Or the thousands more spent that year on stays in downtown Chicago hotels and per diems while attending local conferences.

The travel expenses were gleaned from district credit card statements and financial reports that, in some cases, did not show reasons for travel or length of stay. District officials forwarded all questions to attorney Michael Castaldo Jr., who did not respond to questions last week.

Crawford, the only board member to respond, said all new board members are required to complete three training sessions. She opted to attend only local conferences in Chicago.

The first trip on last year's travel itinerary was in March, when Hendricks, board President Thurman, Secretary Dorothy Clark-Smith and then-board members Daisy Allen and Janice Starks attended a three-day National School Boards Association conference in Nashville. Taxpayers picked up the $2,499 tab for airfare, district credit card records show. Accommodations at the Embassy Suites cost $3,554. When the group returned, the district cut them $2,700 worth of checks to cover per diem reimbursements for food and travel expenses.

Under district policy, employees are required to submit "an itemized list of actual expenses with receipts attached" for reimbursements. Yet board members and Hendricks were routinely reimbursed in round numbers that averaged out to between $150 to $300 a day, financial records show.

Just 3 1/2 weeks later, Hendricks was reimbursed $750 more for per diem expenses for attending a three-day conference. That week, district employees flew to Phoenix. In addition to airfare, accommodations and per diems, the district paid for a $348 bill at a steakhouse.

Less than two months later, on June 16, 2015, Hendricks, Clark-Smith and board member Katie Ross attended the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Las Vegas. They stayed at the five-star Aria Resort and Casino, which cost taxpayers a combined $2,296, credit card statements show.

The following month, in July 2015, Hendricks, Thurman and Clark-Smith were off again, this time to Savannah, Ga., for the National School Boards Association's CUBE (Council of Urban Boards of Education) issues conference on school equity. Taxpayers covered the roughly $7,500 for airfare, hotel and meals, plus a couple sightseeing tours.

Hendricks took one last trip — to Washington, D.C. — that cost taxpayers nearly $1,800 before the end of 2015 when the district paid to put her up in a Marriott hotel for six nights. The purpose of the trip was not disclosed in financial records, but the National Alliance of Black School Educators was hosting a conference in the capital that week.

Hendricks' newly hired daughter Atkinson traveled as well, according to district credit cards, taking two trips — to Phoenix and New Orleans. And the district picked up an airline fee when Thurman's daughter joined her mother on the trip to Georgia.

Finances

District officials made enough budget cuts over the past couple years to get off the state's financial watch list, but the district is still mired in nearly $30 million worth of bond debt and has exceeded a state-imposed borrowing cap.

In classrooms, money for even the basics remains tight, said Perez, the PTA president at one of the district's grade schools. "We have to supply a lot of things — paper towels, hand sanitizer, copy paper."

At the school board meeting last week, Crawford stepped away from her seat at the board table and joined other frustrated residents.

"I welcome you to be here to keep us on the straight and narrow," she said. "I ran on the agenda of why are our kids behind, and I've found out."

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This place and L-way have been quite entertaining to read about.

Critics of Bellwood schools chief say hiring of armed guards is intimidation tactic

By Angela Caputo

When Superintendent Rosemary Hendricks was hired to lead a west suburban grade school district, one of her first orders of business was to bring in a security company to sweep her office for hidden electronic monitoring devices, or bugs.

Two years later, the district's administrative center is now under the guard of armed security.

And in an unusual show of force, board meetings for Bellwood District 88 are being monitored by armed guards wearing bulletproof vests.

It's all highly unusual for the typical school board meeting, which is usually filled with mundane discussions of budget and policy issues. But Bellwood's meetings have recently become more contentious with some parents and senior citizens sharply questioning the district's spending on travel, perks and the hiring of a series of friends and family members by Hendricks and the board president.

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Now, the hiring of a private security company, they say, is little more than an effort to intimidate opponents of Hendricks and board members. The critics point out that the district's largest school, Roosevelt Middle School, has a single security guard keeping watch over nearly 750 children.

"Who's paying for this?" said Deborah Giles, 61, a Bellwood resident. "We are."

The district — which has been steeped in legal bills, settlements and is a leader among the region's school districts for employee turnover — has become an extreme example of the effect that board dysfunction can have on vulnerable schools.

A month after the school year began, basic needs at Bellwood's schools are not being met. Parents complain that substitute teachers are still filling in until permanent hires are made. School buses are running chronically late. Even soap and toilet paper have been in short supply — and in more than one school, leaving basic hygiene needs unmet.

But the school board's president, Marilyn Thurman, said the added security is necessary to ensure "the safety of our employees." She and other board members declined to disclose details about the agreement to hire B&E Protection, or how much the company has been paid.

Bellwood police were also considered for the job, records obtained by the Tribune show, but the board decided to hire B&E Protection without putting the job out to bid because they wanted to immediately bring on private security.

As the meetings have become more contentious under Hendricks, who is in her third term as superintendent, Bellwood police have been on hand to provide security. But the dispute between Hendricks and her opponents has only escalated and this summer she filed a series of police reports, including one alleging that she had been harassed by a board member.

Hendricks reported that a school board member was "attempting to physically attack" her following a July school board meeting. Police concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to file an assault charge, a police report shows. Not satisfied, Hendricks then petitioned a judge for a stalking no contact order against the board member, Sondra McClendon, one of her most vocal critics. But Hendricks dropped the case last week. She and McClendon both declined to comment.

Then last month Hendricks said she received three anonymous letters, one of which, she said, included a racial epithet, questioning her use of school district funds.

The following week, the school board called a special meeting and agreed to hire B&E Protection.

The company's chief executive, Michael Haymer of Hazel Crest, has a checkered past. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation suspended Haymer's license to operate as a security guard less than a month ago over failure to file and pay state income taxes, state records show.

He was initially granted the license in 2012 but was put on probation because of a prior criminal conviction. Court records show that he has been convicted of falsely impersonating a police officer, retail theft and trespass.

There's nothing under state law that would preclude a security company from doing business as long as there is someone in charge who is in good standing, but that company would have to be operating under a licensed business, according to Terry Horstman, a spokesman for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Haymer disputes that his business is out of compliance. "I provided proof to District 88," he said. "If anyone needs it from the state, I'm happy to do that too."

However, there is no record of the requisite business license for B&E Protection on file.

The mere presence of the guards left some at Monday's board meeting unsettled.

"Did you all do a background check on them?" said Arnetta Watkins, another longtime Bellwood resident. "This is totally unacceptable."

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Conns, every school you live near, they be stealin'

First SBV, now this.

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Yeah this guy was put in charge not long after I graduated from that school.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004 ... ls-rectory

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Insanity.

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Correct. This was the period where Daley wanted to appear like he was reforming things by hiring police officers as commissioners. He also wanted to appear on the cutting edge of technology. Huberman was a cop (for about 10 minutes) in the IA office and knew how to turn on a computer. A Daley wet dream. It didn't hurt that he had ambiguous physical characteristics where one would think he was African American or Latino for ceremonial purposes (he is jewish).

He was one of those Daley guys who went from commissionership to commissionership without any real distinction other than fierce loyalty to Daley.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Claypool is the penis of all penises. He tries so hard to be an elected official in a higher office than dogcatcher and the voters continually reject him. Then he tries to be corporate and his partners continually reject him. Not Daley and his people...no. They keep giving him big positions after each rejection. Media then portrays him as some kind of policy wonk (I hate that phrase) because he doesn't look like a cigar chomping ward boss and can pronounce his t's.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.