No Holds Barred: Tempers Flare at SD161 Board Meeting

Looking at the agenda, Wednesday night's Summit Hill School District 161 board meeting should have been a subdued affair, highlighted by a second-grade student presentation and routine business

Instead, personal attacks, accusations and arguments from both the public and board members punctuated the proceedings of the final meeting before the new board is seated May 2.

The following is a look at some of the contentious topics that had attendees locking horns.

Parent Wants Investigation Over Possibly 'Hacked' E-mails

During public comments, Kelly Flynn, a parent of an SD161 student, asked for the board to investigate whether someone had allegedly used district computers to hack into a personal e-mail account to look at messages between her daughter and a district teacher currently on medical leave. 

Flynn said that District Superintendent Keith Pain had found a print out of an e-mail between Flynn's daughter and the teacher--sent from her personal account--behind that teacher's classroom podium. However, the teacher had been on medical leave since late March and not in her classroom in that time. The correspondence between the two, which Flynn was aware of and had approved, was dated April 6.

Flynn gave copies of the print out that Pain gave to her to the board members.

"I'm just really concerned that this was accessed at the school building," Flynn said, claiming the print out she was given indicated that the e-mail was downloaded from a district computer. 

Flynn would not identify the teacher.

Pain would not comment on the matter, saying it was student-personnel issue, and he needed time to investigate it further.

New Board Should Approve New Hires: Kenny 

Board member Mary Kenny objected to an agenda item to approve four new district hires, saying it was a matter for the new board to decide and adding that the item had been tacked on after she picked up her agenda Monday, . 

"I'm uncomfortable doing a hiring at this time with a change over of the board," she said.

Board President Sean William Doyle disagreed: "After an election, does a board just shut down?"

Doyle also said the hiring items were added to the agenda within the 48 hours before the meeting as required.

A motion to table all the employment decisions was proposed by board member Denise Lenz, but it was voted down, 4-3 (Lenz, Kenny and board member Joy Murphy were in favor of it).

The four hirings were approved by votes of 5-2, with Murphy and Kenny voting against them.

Balcerzak, Kenny Clash Over Press Comments

Outgoing board member Ken Balcerzak and a member of the public spoke out against comments Mary Kenny made in a recent Southtown Star article where she was quoted calling her colleagues who supported Superintendent Pain's raise and contract extension "bobbleheads."

"For you to slander fellow board members, truly unprofessional," said Balcerzak, .

Balcerzak and Kenny sniped back and forth, arguing over the news article as well as the legitimacy of changing April's meeting schedule this year. Kenny claims that moving the meetings allowed some members to use a "lame-duck board" to push through unpopular items.

That change, which was done because of the spring break holiday, according to Doyle, was approved almost a year ago by board members, including Kenny, who said she didn't realize at the time the dates' connection to the election.

The bickering frustrated board member Lenz so much that she interrupted her colleagues' argument.

"Is this relevant? I understand you're (Balcerzak) upset by the article. I would be upset, too. ... But is this really the place for this?" Lenz said, which drew applause from those in attendance.

"This is just a typical reason why it's embarrassing to sit on this board sometimes," Kenny added.

Parent Asks for Pain, Administrators to Return Raises

During the second round of public comments, parent Denise Wildeveld asked Superintedent Pain and the other district administrators to return the raises they were approved for at the last meeting.

"How does a raise take care of our kids?" she said after the meeting.

Wildeveld said she has received e-mails from parents in the district who support rolling back the administrative raises and putting the money back into the schools. 

Board member Balcerzak, however, contended that only $5,900 of the $680,000 in district raises next year is going to Pain and the other administrators. 

"Two of the most senior union members (teachers) will get more (in raises) than all the administrators combined," he said, adding that an entry-level teacher making about $40,000 will see a 5 percent increase in salary or an extra $2,000 a year.

The average Summit Hill administrator salary in 2010 was $109,595, slightly above the state's average of $109,091, according to Northern Illinois University's Illinois Interactive Report Card website. Pain's 2010 salary was $177,625, according to the ISBE.