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 April 8, 2015 Dear Lincolnwood School District 74 Learning Community Member, Recently, District 74 responded to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Chicago Tribune, to provide information regarding district legal invoices covering the time period of 2010 through early 2015. As a result, on April 6, 2015, the Chicago Tribune published an article regarding various Illinois public school districts and legal fees incurred by these districts. Lincolnwood School District 74 was named in this article. The District would like to take this opportunity to further explain the circumstances relative to this article. It’s important to note that, while the article makes mention of the fact that many of the other school districts that also received this FOIA, appeared to be less than forthright in this regard, District 74 made a tremendous effort to respond in a manner that was as transparent as possible, and without compromising student or staff confidentiality or relative to the District’s legal position in various proceedings. For your information, the bulk of District 74’s legal spending in that timeframe is covered by the following events: Lincoln Hall: In October 2011, the Board of Education approved a project to demolish and replace Lincoln Hall Middle School. Ahead of that decision (as well as after), the District received a large number of FOIA requests. In November 2011, a group of citizens filed suit challenging the Lincoln Hall project and funding plan. Attorneys assisted District administration in answering FOIA requests, analyzing the District’s legal position relative to the building project, advising as to referendum, and in responding to the lawsuit. In June 2012, the District settled the lawsuit and in 2015 it introduced a new Lincoln Hall plan that does not involve tearing down the building.
Administration/Board Spending: Starting in late 2011 and continuing into 2012, local residents raised spending questions related to some members of administration and some Board members. In March 2012, the District reached separation agreements with the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. In June 2012, the Board of Education terminated the Assistant Superintendent/Business Manager. This employee later sued the District and the four Board members who terminated him. Attorneys assisted the District with addressing and investigating the spending issues raised by the community, in negotiating separation agreements with the two administrators who resigned, in prosecuting the termination hearing for the Assistant Superintendent/Business Manager, and in defending the lawsuit that followed. The lawsuit was dismissed for the final time in early 2015, without the District making any payment to the fired employee.
Grand Jury Investigation: In April 2012, the District was notified that a Grand Jury was convened to conduct an investigation. The District never learned the specific subject of the investigation, but the District attorneys assisted the District in compiling and sending documents in response to grand jury subpoenas. The District has been told that the investigation is now closed.
Page 2 Sick Leave Record-­‐Keeping: In late 2012/early 2013, the District was informed of substantial record-­‐keeping deficiencies related to accounting for teacher sick leave. The problems dated back many years and affected current retirees as well as teachers within the retirement pipeline. The District made more than $280,000 in payments to the Teacher’s Retirement System to protect our retirees’ benefits that may have been affected by the record-­‐
keeping issue. Thereafter, the District undertook an audit to assure that its record-­‐keeping issues were corrected. This work continues. Labor: In 2014, we completed a renegotiation of our support staff union contract.
TIF: The District challenged the Village’s effort to impose a new TIF District in the Lincoln-­‐Devon corridor. With the assistance of our attorneys, we reached an agreement with the Village that will restore certain payments to the District and save the District and taxpayers over $20 million in lost tax increment over the term of the TIF.
Finally, the District’s Board President, Scott Anderson, was quoted in this article as talking about the subject of certain legal costs used to investigate Village residents. The attorneys responsible for that conduct were replaced in June 2012. Regardless, the District is continually seeking ways to evaluate the manner in which we seek legal advice, in the most cost effective way possible. We hope this letter helps you to understand the context of Chicago Tribune’s article. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Administration Building at 847-­‐675-­‐8234. Sincerely yours, Dr. Joseph F. Bailey Superintendent of Schools