No Conflict Of Interest In La Grange Highlands: Official

LA GRANGE HIGHLANDS, IL — The interim superintendent for La Grange Highlands School District 106 is also a partner in the firm hired to recruit a permanent superintendent.

The school board has agreed to pay BWP & Associates $14,800 plus consultant expenses for the superintendent search, according to the district. Interim Superintendent Steve Griesbach said he was not involved in the selection of BWP.

"I am not involved in the search, except as a representative of D106," Griesbach said in an email to Patch. "I will not benefit financially from BWP's contract with D106."

A school board committee interviewed representatives of Libertyville-based BWP, Oak Park-based School Exec Connect and Schaumburg-based Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates before settling on BWP, Griesbach said.

"I was not involved in reviewing the proposals, interviewing the firms, checking references, or in the decision of the Board to select BWP. It was the Board's decision alone," Griesbach said.

The board hired the firm in the wake of the sudden departure of then-Superintendent Amy Warke in December. The circumstances of her exit largely remain a mystery.

Griesbach was the superintendent of Willowbrook-based Gower School District 62 from 2005 to 2013.