Sunday, March 13, 2022

Lessons Learned from the School Board — the Hard Way.

By DEBRA RADE

CHAPTER TWO -- Criminal Acts and Cover Ups

Readers are reminded that Chapter One reviewed the preliminary part of the Whistleblower Letter sent to Gerry Meister and me in October 2018 — “Background and Overview.” That section focused on the results of an initial independent investigation conducted by Robbins Schwartz in 2016. As a result of that investigation, School Board of Township School District 113 directed Superintendent Christopher Dignam to issue a “Confidential Memorandum and Final Warning Resolution” to the Highland Park High School (HPHS) Principal who had intentionally falsified a school report and submitted it to the State of Illinois. The Resolution was issued in July 2016, and included a five-day, unpaid suspension as the primary reprimand.

The Principal returned to the job and continued in his position throughout the next academic year. In March 2017, he announced his departure from District 113 at the end of the school year 2017 and that he had accepted a job as principal at a nearby high school.

Reasonable minds might differ on the appropriate discipline of a principal for any variety of possible non-compliance or malfeasance. People might disagree on whether a principal, or a superintendent, should ever be disciplined with an unpaid suspension — if it was conduct egregious enough to be suspended, it may be conduct bad enough to be worthy of termination. In any event, intentionally falsifying records is a significant act, violates Illinois law, and goes to the very core of character. Yet, this report would likely have never been written if the saga stopped at this point.

The Whistleblowers did not mince words about what happened next: “Criminal Acts and Cover Ups.” This next section of the Whistleblower Letter alleges wrongdoing the following year, in June 2017, not just by the Principal, but also by Assistant Principal No. 1 (AP#1) and Assistant Principal No. 2 (AP#2) who departed District 113 at the same time. What followed next appears to be a coordinated, conspiratorial event among this group of former District 113 administrators. There is no intention to protect these individuals by not referring to them by name. Rather, this report is about holding the School Board accountable, not about school administrators who are long gone from District 113.

Before starting to read the section of alleged “Criminal Acts and Coverups,” please remember:

This report is based on allegations from the Whistleblower Letter. Even though some allegations are confirmed in supportive documents, readers are reminded that, ultimately, no one mentioned in this report has ever been charged with an alleged crime(s) or convicted of one.

The Whistleblowers provided detailed, serious allegations:

“On June 30, 2017, what would turn out to be one of the worst acts of vandalism and destruction of school district property and record destruction in Illinois history by employed principals was discovered by incoming principal Liz Robertson… “

“In June 2017 (between approximately June 12 - 28), [Principal, AP#1, and AP#2] destroyed tens upon tens of thousands of pages of public documents (threw them in the dumpster and removed documents/files/materials from HPHS's property) upon resigning from District 113. They destroyed district property and records and left their offices almost 100% empty with nothing in them for the new principal and assistant principals.

“[AP#2] also destroyed and trashed 44,555 emails and went into the district's server and deleted and trashed 1,233 documents and the district's Google drive and deleted and trashed 1,007 electronic documents. These criminal acts were memorialized as "electronic trail" evidence and their identification and retrieval was performed and attested to by district witnesses…”

“When the acts of destruction, vandalism, and theft were discovered and documents could not be found, the new HPHS administration and superintendent Dignam reported it to the board of education. Both [AP#1’s] office and [AP#2’s] office were next to completely empty. [Principal’s] office was almost completely empty. New principal Liz Robertson found student records in the recycle bin in the principal's office. One set of records was for a student who had hired an attorney regarding a discipline matter and another for a student who experienced a … injury during a football game …[details deleted for privacy reasons] and was still experiencing the physical effects of the injury ([their] files were destroyed and thrown away). The student's medical records were in the trash along with some notes but the vast majority (95%) of the student's entire file was destroyed…”

“The empty offices, documents in the recycle bin and the retrieval of materials from the compactor were all memorialized in video and still images. The actual removal of documents from the assistant principals' offices in a gondola to be placed in the garbage compactor was also captured in security video footage. In addition, [AP#2] was captured on security cameras removing two enormous cartloads of documents, files, etc. to [their] automobile. These were all property and work products of the district.”

“By the end of September/early October 2017, the superintendent, the superintendent’s assistant…, and [other, remaining] HPHS principals had sorted and organized the materials from the compactor. This was work that should have never had to be performed by senior school leaders and took time away from them performing normal, expected duties, not those as the result of criminal misconduct performed by former principals/administrators.”

“In November 2017, [Superintendent Christopher Dignam] reported to the board yet again about the crimes and vandalism committed and informed the board of education that he would be hiring an independent law firm to once again handle a matter due to Tony Loizzi's conflict of interests. Robbins Schwartz would be handing the reporting of potential crimes to the state's attorney. The law firm would be providing an impartial review and identifying any statutes that were broken to protect the district and community. In addition, if statutes were broken the superintendent reported to the board he fully intended on pressing charges and reporting it the police and ISBE (the Illinois State Board of Education) and ROE (the Regional Office of Education). Board members [Julie] Gordon, [Debra] Hymen, [Stacey] Myer [sic], and [Elizabeth] Garlovsky were not supportive and very unhappy that the superintendent was moving forward with investigating the incident. Dr. Dignam informed the board he "was not asking for permission" as he believed ‘crimes were committed and had to retain the law firm and report the findings.’”

In December 2017, Robbins Schwartz determined several crimes may have been committed and statutes violated and eventually referred the matter to the States Attorneys Office for an investigation.

“An independent law firm (other than the district's firm HLERK) had to be hired because [Principal] is friends with the district's law firm attorney, Mr. Tony Loizzi, who used to also be an employee at the district (he was the district's HR director). Mr. Loizzi was and still is to this day, conflicted. He is a former employee and has multiple conflicts of interest with his position.”
“On January 16, 2018, District 113 received a Grand Jury Subpoena from the Lake County States Attorney’s Office for documents related to the acts of vandalism and destruction of public records/document.”

The Whistleblowers provided a list of laws that they considered relevant to the destruction of District 113’s records: [all will be hyperlinked]

They did not mention other laws that may have been violated, including federal and state privacy laws such as FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act), HIPAA Privacy and Illinois School Student Records Act 105 ILCS 10.

The Whistleblowers now had my full attention. Next steps were clear. I arranged to meet with the Lake County States Attorney’s office to hand over the Whistleblower Letter and register a complaint as a resident of Highland Park.

Links to other chapters of this report:
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Three
Chapter Four

PS Some readers are asking how to subscribe to my blog posts. Frankly, this Google platform is old and they removed some functionality since the last time I posted -- that had an excellent subscription widget. Not sure how well the new widget works but, please do try it. Also, you can find my direct email address here.

Friday, March 11, 2022

Lessons Learned from the School Board — the Hard Way.

CHAPTER ONE — The Whistleblower Letter Arrives from A. Friend

(Click to read Prologue here)

On October 18, 2018, a letter was posted to Mr. Gerry Meister, an outspoken critic of the Township High School District 113 (District 113) School Board, particularly with regard to spending tax funds. An architect, Gerry is known to ask questions and express concerns about the bricks and mortar of our schools -- how they are maintained, renovated, razed, rebuilt or built, as well as how the budgets for projects are managed. Gerry is one of the trio who brought the "Cash & Carry" abuses to my attention.

The return address on the envelope read “Andrew Friend, 1040 Barry Bolek West, Highland Park, IL 60035”. Of course, this was not a real person (think, "A. Friend") or real address (the address incorporating the name of treasurer/CFO Bolek of the School District into the street name of the location of the administrative offices on Park Ave. West). The letter it contained was directed to me and Gerry, even though a copy was never addressed to my home. Gerry delivered a copy to me.

This was a powerful whistleblower letter making serious allegations. The authors (the Whistleblowers) displayed genuine and reasonable fear of losing their jobs in retaliation by the School Board and certain administrators. The letter was divided in sections, the first read: “District 113 Cover Up of Very Recent Crimes.” Following are excerpts from the first page of the Whistleblower Letter:

“Hello Ms. Rade and Mr. Meister, We are contacting you in strict confidence with the hope you will review information being sent to you and assist with unveiling several very serious events that are [allegedly] criminal and have occurred at District 113. Very recently, as we are certain you are aware, our superintendent, Dr. Christopher Dignam, left the district. What you are probably unaware of is the exact reasons he was forced out, recent actions by the Board of Education (and specific members of the board still in power), and the fear of remaining administrators that there will be employment and legal consequences for sharing this information with you...

“…We saw your blog article from the summer and none of us knows anyone else to turn to for help or who to trust...

“…The [alleged] reason Chris [Dignam] is gone is because he stood up to the Board of Education to move ahead with pressing criminal charges against three former Highland Park principals who [allegedly] all broke the law, but ... are all friends with Board of Education members. The dozen-plus administrative team members left behind in the district are terrified regarding what [allegedly] happened to Chris (any of us could be next) and hope you can confidentially use this information to make specific FOIA requests, ask specific questions at Board of Education meetings, and perhaps work with the media to pressure the Lake County States Attorney’s Office to move forward with the indictments and charges already brought to their attention by the Grand Jury Subpoena received by the district earlier this year...

“If you make FOIA requests and ask questions, you will verify 100% of everything being shared with you. Chris ended up losing his job for nothing, as all the [alleged] criminal wrongdoing he [allegedly] uncovered has been [allegedly] covered back up by the Board of Education because they are friends with the [alleged] criminals…”

“Please maintain this information in confidence and verify what is being shared with you. Like Chris, none of us want to lose our jobs or be targeted next." [Everything in brackets are my editorial comments.]

The next seven pages were chock-full of hair-raising details alleging violations of law by certain District 113 administrators, as well as providing details about the School Board's response and alleged cover up.

Background and Overview

After their introductory comments, the Whistleblowers articulated their complaint. However, first, they provided a Background and Overview section before getting to the heart of the matter. They referred to a matter dating back to June 2016 stating that a HPHS principal had been investigated for [allegedly] “forging” a fake teacher evaluation required by PERA (Performance Evaluation Reform Act) law in Illinois. The teacher was absent on the evaluation date and (bravely) complained up the line that the principal had (1) falsified her evaluation document, (2) attested to a walk-through observation with her that never happened, and (3) filed the falsified document with the State of Illinois.

An independent law firm, Robbins Schwartz, was retained to investigate the facts. The investigation determined that, indeed, the principal had falsified the teacher’s observation in violation of the PERA law and the Illinois School Code. According to the Whistleblowers, the Principal "received a Warning Resolution as a result of the investigation that took place. This [investigation] cost taxpayers approximately $15,000. The Warning Resolution was issued on July 11, 2016 for deceptive practice with a one week unpaid suspension. [The Principal] could have been fired but since the district had been up in arms just a year prior over previous superintendent George Fornero firing the former HPHS principal Brad Swanson, the Board of Education directed Chris to issue the Warning Resolution. Board members were also friends with [the Principal]."

Later, in researching the Whistleblowers claims through FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to District 113 and the LCSA's offices, a document was discovered that confirmed the Warning Resolution. Robbins Schwartz determined the Principal had intentionally falsified a teacher’s walk-through observation as contained in a December 6, 2017 letter to Michael G. Nerheim, then Lake County States Attorney (LCSA). Robbins Schwartz wrote that former Superintendent Dignam issued the Principal “a Confidential Memorandum and Final Warning Resolution that detailed the investigative findings, identified conduct deficiencies which, if not remedied, could result in charges for dismissal, issued directives for improvement, and placed the [the principal] on a five-day suspension without pay.” (Letter, Robbins Schwartz lawyer to Michael G. Nerheim, Lake County State’s Attorney, 12/06/2017, RE: Township High School District 113 — Records Destruction).

In this same letter, Robbins Schwartz continues "It is our understanding that [Principal] was vocal about his displeasure with this investigation and discipline, telling his administrative team that he had been disciplined for 'getting the date wrong' — not the truth, which was that he had falsified the walk-through observation in its entirety."

Children are suspended from school for bad behavior, but a principal being suspended? Suspended for just five days without pay for falsifying records as well as violating of PERA law? One can only wonder who was advising this School Board, and who on the board was supportive of this decision.

The Whistleblowers convey that the Principal returned to work as usual, and into the next school year, but was "angry all school year and told all of his assistant principals, and retiring administrators (assistant superintendents Barry Bolek, and [others]) that he got written up because he simply 'got a date wrong.'" Clearly the Whistleblowers knew the real facts, and, likely, so did many teachers. Perhaps even some residents and students were aware? Quite the message the School Board sent with its "Principal suspension." This is taking place in a community where we say, “Character Counts" and some of us wonder, does it really matter to our leaders?

The Whistleblowers state that in March 2017, the Principal announced his plans to leave the district, having secured a position as principal of a school in another suburb. One is left to wonder whether the School Board gave the Principal a great recommendation, or if certain members of the Board did this on their own initiative. Surely it is difficult to get another position as a principal without a good recommendation.

So ends Chapter 1. Readers may ponder: Should residents be informed whenever a principal or assistant principal has engaged in some conduct worthy of an unpaid suspension or termination, such as falsification of records? Is suspension ever an appropriate discipline for a superintendent, principal or assistant principal — anyone at the top of the administration? If so, is suspension ever an appropriate discipline for a school administrator or teacher who has intentionally violated State laws and regulations for educators?

Readers may have noticed that, so far, this report redacts the name of the Principal, and two Assistant Principals. There are various reasons for omitting their names — protecting them is not one of them. In essence, this report is not about the school administrators but is focused entirely on the actions of the School Board.

In every organization, every school district, the tone is set at the top. It appeared from the outset of the Whistleblower Letter that the tone at the top of District 113 was creating an environment in which staff and educators who are trying to protect the School District are fearful of retaliatory discharge, and the ones who aren't doing the right thing are supported by the School Board. Was it a superintendent or a School Board that was creating a toxic environment? Lessons learned. Create an environment where whistleblowers can share information about wrongdoing anonymously and without fear, and trust that a School Board will do the right thing. A School Board has to earn that trust and, once lost, it may take a long, long time to earn it.

Chapter 2 will cover the next section of the whistleblower letter sent to Gerry and me: Criminal Acts and Cover Ups.

Links to all chapters of this report:

Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Lessons Learned from the School Board — the Hard Way.

“Is there anyone so wise as to learn by the experience of others?” Voltaire

Prologue

Consider this hypothetical scenario: Your local School Board became aware of possible wrongdoing and criminal activity within the leadership ranks of the school administration — the superintendent of the administration provided the School Board with abundant documentation about alleged misconduct by a certain principal and a couple of assistant principals. The local State's Attorney serves a Grand Jury Subpoena on the School Board requiring information to document the facts. The School Board declines to provide the documents, replying to the State's Attorney through an attorney that, regardless of laws that may have been violated, from the Board's perspective, it was "no foul, no harm." The School Board declines to provide documents responsive to the subpoena. Meanwhile, some or all members of the School Board, officially or unofficially, provide the alleged wrongdoers with letters of recommendation, so these administrators can be hired by other fine school districts.

As a resident of the community, you learn from the newspaper that the School Board has just terminated the Superintendent’s contract because he was creating a “toxic work environment” causing some administrators to leave the district. The School Board provided the Superintendent with a substantial severance (more of your tax money not going into education) and sent him off with a seriously, if not irreparably, muddied reputation. The School Board apparently never mentioned to the newspaper reporter anything about the Grand Jury Subpoena or the results of an independent, third-party investigation that had revealed alleged misconduct by the administrators that happened on their way out of the school district’s doors. Indeed, you still don’t know if the School Board terminated those administrators or if they left voluntarily.

As a resident of your community, do you care? What information do you think a School Board needs to share with parents and the greater community? Are you entitled to know about misconduct of superintendents, principals, and assistant principals?

In a series of chapters, this report will provide information about a similar scenario that took place in my hometown — Highland Park, Illinois — at Township High School District 113 (District 113), responsible for Highland Park High School (HPHS) and Deerfield High School (DHS). This report will cover information stemming from a letter I received from whistleblowers — administrators and/or teachers at HPHS — requesting my help. The allegations are numerous and, sometimes, complicated. It seems best to absorb all of it in relatively small bites — so chapters seem best.

Regardless of your answer to my question — do you care? — I hope you will read the entire report. If you answered “no”, perhaps you will learn why you should care, as well as how to care, the questions to ask, and how to develop a system that encourages everyone to do their best. Also, this report is intended to be relevant to the reader, wherever you live. Highland Park and Deerfield are great communities, comprised of many wonderful, intelligent, giving and caring people. We are community that puts signs up that say “Character Counts.” Whatever happened here could just as easily have happened in your own community. It happens wherever people do not hold their local public officials accountable, where they vote for friends and friends of friends but they don't really follow up on performance of the elected officials.

That is one of the first lessons learned from our School Board — hold your local elected officials accountable even if they are your friends or friends of friends.

Background

Since 2008, this blog has been dedicated to the residents of the City of Highland Park, Illinois, my hometown – “HP”. The impetus to start the blog was an issue, yet to be resolved equitably or satisfactorily, about the City Council that coerced 47 residents, many of whom were retirees, in certain neighborhoods to pay in the aggregate nearly $240,000 for sanitary sewer lining arising from the City’s infrastructure problems. That initial complaint led to other blog posts, mostly because people contacted me for help.

In the interest of full disclosure, your blogger is a practicing corporate lawyer and recently retired adjunct professor of law of legal ethics and professional responsibilities. This blog is completely independent of those endeavors. When it comes to complaints about the City of Highland Park, District 113, District 112, and the Park District, I am just a concerned resident in this community.

Years after the initial blog entry, a trio of residents called and asked for assistance. They said there was a problem with District 113 – HPHS and DHS — that the treasurer of the schools had issued "Petty Cash" checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars and that these ginormous checks were cashed at a local bank and were carried out small bills. This was unbelievable. Petty cash is for petty sums. Surely no one with an accounting background would write out a check like that. Surely not the treasurer of District 113. In disbelief, I could only reply to the trio, "I don't have time to research this for you. Prove it to me first and if it is true, I'll work with you." They did prove it to me by delivering the documentation. I have great respect for this trio as they really were dedicated to protecting our school system.

Ultimately, in 2018, this blog detailed how more than $1,013,000 was handled in cash – bags o’ bills —with several individual “petty cash” checks issued for six-figure sums — one nearly $350,000. This blog documented the mismanagement of funds, as well as the lack of oversight by the School Board. No one was held accountable. The story was further published with the headline Cash & Carry: $1.013 Million in Paper Bills in the local Patch.

As with the Whistleblower Letter discussed later, the community was unaware that the Lake County State's Attorney (LCSA), Michael G. Nerheim at that time, had conducted a criminal investigation. However, the School Board knew. The LCSA had worked on the matter long before I contacted them. I don't know who initially reported the petty cash problem to the LCSA but the States Attorney’s office believed they couldn't successfully pursue the matter because it is difficult to trace cash. Additionally, it seems they had previously chalked the whole problem up to the fact that a lot of schools don't manage their money well. Maggie McPhee (of blessed memory) was a member of the trio who had reported the matter to me, and we went together to the first meeting with the LCSA's office to disclose the information we had. The LCSA they told us that the statute of limitations had already passed and they could not reopen the matter, even with additional compelling documentation.

In general, and for many reasons, writing this blog is the last thing in the world I want to do. It takes a lot of time to research facts and work with the authorities. Worse yet, even when the community is informed, residents do not seem to care, at least it not with their ballots. The same people tend to be re-elected, even when mismanagement rises to dereliction of duties.

Why post this blog now? Recently, in a Facebook group, “Highland Park/Deerfield High Schools Sounding Board”, a resident posted a news report about a current case in Northern District of Illinois Federal Court stating that an ex-Highland Park assistant high school principal tries to continue suit against District 113 over alleged retaliation for aiding an investigation. I immediately recognized that the case was, in part, based on the facts I had received in a whistleblower letter. The facts are still relevant.

The resident posted in her Facebook comment: “I’m now starting to get curious what other things are being hidden…but the way this seems, there were a lot of people involved in this cover-up. I’m very disappointed and concerned.” She wondered what she is missing, what is being hidden, and she deserves to know the answer — lots! This new blog report is dedicated to her.

Links to all chapters of this report:

Chapter Four
Chapter Five