The school board for Freeburg Community Consolidated School District 70 has voted to censure one of its members and try to get him removed from elective office, accusing him of behaving “inappropriately” and threatening violence against district officials.
On Monday night, five of the district’s seven board members voted to censure David Stein and ask St. Clair County Regional Superintendent of Schools Lori Costello to remove him.
“This is an attempt to sweep things under the rug and shut me up,” Stein said in a phone interview.
Board members took similar action against member Jayson Baker three months ago, although they didn’t reveal their complaints publicly. Costello said on Tuesday that her office had determined the request didn’t meet criteria for removal under state law.
Baker abstained from voting on Stein’s case Monday night. Stein was absent from the meeting. Two hours before, he was served with an emergency workplace protection restraining order by St. Clair County Circuit Court that banned him from school property.
“Mr. Stein has acted inappropriately on numerous occasions,” board member Bill May said at the meeting.
Board member Amber Trout said Stein had acted “irrationally” and “aggressively” toward board members and school administrators, harassed Financial Officer Mark Janssen and screamed, interrupted people and stormed in and out of closed sessions of meetings.
Trout recounted an incident in February, when Freeburg’s police chief ordered Stein to leave Freeburg Elementary School and described him as “hostile.” Stein was complaining that an investigation involving Superintendent Melanie Brink hadn’t been handled properly. He wasn’t charged with a crime.
“We don’t feel comfortable having (Stein) in the room anymore because we can’t trust how he behaves,” Trout said Monday night.
The district’s request for an emergency workplace protection restraining order alleged that Stein’s “erratic and aggressive” behavior in the past year and a Nov. 21 comment about running over people with his vehicle at the next board meeting constituted a “credible threat of violence” against school board members, employees and the public.
Janssen said Stein was upset that an item hadn’t been placed on a meeting agenda and threatened in a phone conversation to “run everyone over.”
Stein questions hiring policy
Stein maintains that state law requires all District 70 employees to be formally approved by the school board. In the past, administrators have independently hired part-time cafeteria workers and bus drivers.
“Last year, because of a complete lack of oversight, we hired a felon to work in our cafeteria, and I have spent 11 months trying to figure out what in the (expletive) happened and how it happened,” Stein said. “And ever since, I have been viciously attacked and viciously attacked and viciously attacked.”
Stein said he views the independent hirings as a “misappropriation of taxpayer funds.”
On Monday night, the question of whether administrators could continue to hire some part-time employees without board approval was on the meeting agenda. Members agreed to leave the policy in place.
Stein said the board’s censure against him related to his objections to Baker’s behavior.
“I refuse to let Jayson Baker trash our employees in closed session,” Stein said. “At the last board meeting, he was harassing our superintendent. Yet again, our school board president, Michelle Foppe, our financial officer, Mark Janssen, and our school attorney, Heidi Eckert, did nothing.
“As a result, I came to the conclusion that all three of them were conspiring together and colluding, and it’s completely wrong.”
Foppe and board members Ed Scheibel and Jamie Smith voted with May and Trout to censure Stein and seek his removal from office. They also agreed to file a Freedom of Information Act request with Freeburg Police Department to get body-cam video of his February visit to the school.
Complaints discussed in public
On Monday night, board members discussed their complaints against Stein in open session. That wasn’t the case in August with Baker, who had been elected to a four-year term in 2021.
Six board members, including Stein, voted to censure Baker and ask Costello to remove him from office after discussing it in closed session. That move may have violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act, an Illinois Press Association official said at the time.
Baker, who was absent that evening, said he later filed a request for the public access counselor in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to review meeting minutes to determine if the board had broken the law.
The Belleville News-Democrat obtained a copy of the Aug. 29 letter that Foppe sent to Costello asking for Baker’s removal through a Freedom of Information Act request. Foppe’s reasoning was limited to one sentence, although she invited the regional superintendent to reach out for more information.
“The reason for the recommendation for removal is due to interactions with staff members,” Foppe wrote.
During a public-participation session at the August meeting, Freeburg Elementary Teachers’ Association representatives stated that Baker had “harmed the educational environment and the working conditions” of the district and that union members had “overwhelmingly” voted that they had lost confidence in him. They didn’t specify what he had done.
At the time, Baker described himself as the only board member “brave enough” to call out “illegal practices and violations of policy” and advocate for “unprotected, victimized” employees.
Jayson Baker’s wife, Lauren Baker, works as a nurse in District 70.
Baker can continue to serve
Illinois law authorizes a regional superintendent to remove a local school board member from office if that member willfully fails to perform his or her official duties, according to Costello.
“Criteria for removal of a board member is set by law, and the criteria was not met (in Jayson Baker’s case),” she said Tuesday.
Foppe didn’t respond to a request for comment on the decision. Baker emailed the following statement, noting that he was speaking personally and not on behalf of District 70:
“While I am thankful for a small degree of vindication, it does not erase the irreparable harm done to me, my wife and my children. My family and I have been vilified, targeted, retaliated against and publicly humiliated because I chose to advocate for the children and families in my community.
“The disparaging comments made about me by (union representatives) during the August 2024 board meeting do not accurately reflect my character. I was not removed from my elected position because the district failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing, simply because no wrongdoing ever occurred on my part.”
District 70 consists of Freeburg Elementary School for grades 3-8 and Freeburg Primary Center for kindergarten through second grade.
Baker and Stein, despite the commonality of their censures, have been on opposite sides of many issues, beginning with the March 2023 resignation of Freeburg Elementary School Principal Ryan Wittenauer.
Wittenauer wrote in a statement that he could no longer work in the district because of “unfounded attacks, bullying, and professional accusations” by people who “terrorize our school community.”
Wittenauer didn’t name anyone, but in a Facebook post at the time, Stein blamed Baker for “relentlessly badgering our school” and called for his resignation. A month later, Stein ran for school board and won.
Also last year, Baker filed two requests for stalking no contact orders (similar to orders of protection) against Stein in St. Clair County Circuit Court, alleging harassment. A judge denied one but granted the other.
“Knowing that (Stein) is violent, I am filled with worry that he will show up at my house and or find me in public and attempt to physically harm me and my family,” one of Baker’s requests stated.
Editor's note: This story was originally published by the Belleville News-Democrat. Teri Maddox is a reporter for the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
