Marge Hubacek, Lyons Elementary D103 School board president (Chronicle Media)

The new Lyons Elementary SD103 school board majority called for a “do-over” May 31 and rescinded contracts for administrators, principals and instructional coaches

rushed through April 13 by the lame-duck board. The board planned to revisit the contracts at a special meeting Tuesday, June 6, after press time.

Citing a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act, Board President Marge Hubacek said before the meeting that not enough information was provided when the previous five-member majority voted to “slam through” 13 administrator contracts, seven new instructional coach positions and a contract for the superintendent’s executive secretary. None of the names of personnel approved, nor were their salaries listed on the meeting agenda. Hubacek said she heard members of the audience calling out “who’s getting a contract?” as the board hastily voted during their last days in the majority. The new board members were sworn in April 27.

“The age of non-information is over,” Hubacek said. “It’s going to be transparent, from now on. We want to fix it and make it right, and have it out there for the pubic to see.” Hubacek, Sharon Anderson and Shannon Johnson were elected in a hotly contested April election against three incumbent candidates who lost in spite of a $36,000 campaign financed by Mayor Christopher Getty and the district’s law firm Odelson & Sterk. With veteran board member, JoAnne Schaeffer, they have formed a new four-person majority.

The district’s attorneys were the first change made by the new board, who replaced Odelson & Sterk with Robbins Schwarz.

Attorneys said the board was “well within our rights” to rescind the last-minute contracts, Hubacek said.

The board will also take a second look at Supt. Carol Baker’s new contract extension, which added two years to her original contract, set to expire in June 2019. The new contract boosted Baker’s salary by 5.8 percent from $145,000 this year to $153,500 in the upcoming school year. The extension also gave Baker, in her early 50s, a generous health insurance allowance at no cost to age 65 unless she acquired another job with health insurance.

“None of [Baker’s contract sweeteners were] discussed with the full board until the night it was voted on/approved,” wrote Schaeffer in an online discussion.

But Hubacek said the board had another reason to slow down on Baker’s contract: The new superintendent, hired in May, 2016, has not yet had an evaluation. Superintendents may not sign multi-year contracts with any school board unless they have met specific board-driven performance goals, according to Illinois school code 105ILCS 5/10-23.8.

Lyons Elementary D103 Superintendent Carol Baker (Chronicle Media)

Even though Baker’s contract extension contained boilerplate language saying she had met “performance-based criteria,” the board had not given her an evaluation yet, Hubacek said.

“We’ll be picking a date for that evaluation in the next couple of weeks,” she said.

Baker did not return an email requesting comment.

At the June 6 meeting, the board planned a re-vote on contracts for seven principals and vice principals. They were also planning to vote on contracts for administrative staff, including heads of the IT, special education, early education, curriculum and the maintenance director. Hubacek, who formerly served as the superintendent’s secretary, said the job never had a contract before. No contract renewal was passed in April for Asst. Supt. Kyle Hastings.

“We’ll have to see about that,” she said. “It sure looks to me like this was [the former board’s] last minute attempt to cover their people.

Hubacek did not say whether she thought the superintendent should stay, but said the two had met many times and had a “good relationship.” Baker has borne the brunt of public comments in recent board meetings and a parent group presented a 200-signature vote of “no confidence” for the superintendent.

“The majority of the board feels like this is not the right way to start the new year. We want all this baggage gone and we want to do things the right way,” Hubacek said.

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