This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 1, 2012 - Less than a year after assuming supervision over East St. Louis public schools, Illinois education officials are moving to oust the locally elected school board and overturn some of its recent actions that they say are not in the best interest of the district or its students.
In a letter sent last week to members of the board of District 189 and released Tuesday, Christopher Koch, Illinois state superintendent of education, said the state is overturning, effective July 1, the agreement it struck with the district just last May.
It also said it was overturning a number of decisions the elected board had made in recent weeks, including a challenge to the reassignment of a principal who had “verbally abused parents and students, cursed a parent who challenged her, failed to follow her supervisor’s directives, failed to provide a safe environment, and failed to follow state and federal special education requirements.”
Koch said his decisions to end the agreement, overturn the decisions and oust the board were based on the fact that the elected board’s actions were not “in the best interests of the students of the district.” The state Board of Education plans to address the issue at its meeting June 21 in Springfield.
Board member Carl Officer said he had not yet received Koch’s letter but was aware it was likely to be coming.
“I have been the one sole voice against a lot of these ridiculous contracts. I don’t have a problem if he wants to remove the board, but I don’t like being labeled with the entire board and being painted with a broad brush.”
He feels there is a constitutional question involved.
“If I vote for you, I think my vote ought to be respected. If you are removed, you ought to be removed for cause. He ought to respect the voters’ rights.
“When it comes to the issue of accountability, I don’t know if changing the board necessarily is going to result in better test scores or better education overall. There’s no evidence of that.”
Officer said that state officials have been apprised of what is going on with the school district for some time. “They have as much guilt in this situation as some of the board. They had to approve some of this stuff. They shouldn’t act like this is a surprise.”
Officer said that East St. Louis and north Chicago, which is in a similar situation, have been treated differently by state education officials from the way other schools are treated.
“I’m not saying any of the stuff he’s doing is unfair, but in support of Dr. Koch and the board of education, I think we need to have real discussion about education in Illinois. It has to be overhauled. Property taxes can no longer be the way we support public education.”
Officer said he can’t speak for other members of the board, but he doesn’t plan to contest Koch’s actions.
“I’m certainly going to ask questions, but I’m not going to fight anything. I have a business to run and a family to take care of. This is a voluntary, unpaid position. If they want to remove me, they are going to have a hard time finding anyone with any ability to do the job.”
Changes over the past year
Last May, for the second time in 17 years, the state moved to establish oversight of District 189 schools because of chronically poor academic performance. The agreement was set to extend initially until June 30, 2014, then be renewed automatically for three more one-year periods, until June 30, 2017.
Under terms of the pact, a liaison between the district and the state was given the authority to review and approve -- or disapprove -- personnel decisions, contracts, budgetary decisions.
If the board had not agreed to the move, a spokesman for the state department of education said at the time, state officials could have moved to dissolve the district or fail to recognize it, which would make it ineligible for state or federal funds.
To lead the district, former Champaign Superintendent Arthur Culver was hired last year, with a five-year contract. After a few months in the job, he likened the effort to “working on a plane while it’s flying.”
While Culver has been trying to improve student achievement, win public confidence and establish a more positive culture in the district, the board has worked against the success of such efforts, according to the letter sent by Koch.
In it, he detailed several examples of what he considered to be negative actions by the board:
- It worked to overturn the reassignment of the principal who had been reclassified as a classroom teacher. He said the board had tried to “establish that the employee had been successful in her position and that she had not received adequate communication.”
- Instead of accepting a recommendation that the district end a lease at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center, costing about $260,000 a year, because the three district employees who work there could be housed in other buildings, the board “shockingly took a vote to extend the contract through 2013.” Koch ordered that the lease be canceled effective this October.
- Board President Lonzo Greenwood pushed to offer binding contracts to non-certified administrators that “would only benefit the employees,” including Greenwood’s daughter and relatives of two other board members. Koch ordered that no binding contracts be entered into with non-certified administrators.
- The board would not accept the recommendation that it hire a director of risk management who now works in Texas, despite the conclusion that the hiring would improve the district’s financial condition. One board member said no outsiders should be hired as long as people who live in the district were being cut. “While I am sympathetic to the loss of jobs in the East St. Louis community,” Koch wrote, “it is necessary to bring the best candidate on board immediately to fill this critical role.” He ordered that the candidate from Texas be hired.
- The board objected to a recommendation that a contract with attorney Pearson Bush be ended; Koch said Bush receives a retainer of $6,000 a month but while he attends board meetings, he “does not speak or interact, nor does he perform any legal or other services for the district.” Koch ordered that his contract not be renewed.
The letter from Koch is the latest turmoil in the history of the troubled District 189.
From 1994 to 2004, a financial oversight panel put in place by Illinois state education officials kept track of how the district spent its money. By the time it had to go out of business because members couldn't get authorization to stick around, it had helped turn a daunting deficit into a balanced budget with a nice cash reserve.
More recently, Culver announced that five elementary schools would be closing to adjust to declining enrollment and help reduce a budget deficit of about $12 million. Alta-Sita, J.M.D. Brown, Miles Davis, A.M. Jackson and Lilly-Freeman schools will close at the end of June.
"These schools have rich histories in the district,” Culver said at the time the closings were announced, “and they are loved by students and parents. However, fiscal reality and declining enrollment force us to make hard choices. Hopefully, this will stop the trend of closing one or two schools per year and stabilize our schools for staff and students.”
Added Greenwood, the board president:
"We don't want to lose our schools, but even more importantly, we don't want to lose our school district. Our loss of state and federal funds can't be replaced by our local taxes, and we are being forced to make cuts that are painful. The good news is that our outstanding students will return in the fall, and we will make every effort to see that they receive the highest quality education."