Lawsuit Claims Woodland District 50 Board Member Helped Husband's Company Land Contract

A breach of contract lawsuit filed by the former provider of spirit wear and athletic uniforms for Woodland Elementary School District 50 claims a school board member influenced the decision to award the contract to a company that employed the board member's husband, the Daily Herald reports.

The lawsuit was filed by the owners of Ink N' Tees of Waukegan, Steven and Kim Stams, Tuesday in Lake County Court and seeks more than $100,000 in damages. The suit claims the board member, Kellie Pappas, steered business toward her husband's company, Hat World Inc., which operates in Illinois as Lids Team Sports, according to the newspaper.

James Pappas, who is a sales representative for Hat World, said he and his wife are not in the wrong. Pappas told the Daily Herald he first won a contract to provide baseball uniforms to Woodland Middle School before his wife had even begun circulating nomination papers to run for the school board because he offered the best price.

Ink N' Tees began providing spirit wear to the school district in 2003 and also became the provider for athletic team uniforms in 2012, according to the article. Kellie Pappas was the PTA president in October 2014 when she met with Ink N' Tees and said they would begin to take bids for vendors in January 2015. That never happened, the lawsuit claims, and Lids Team Sports won the contract.

Pappas was elected to the school board in May 2015, according to her biography on the Woodland District 50 website.

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