Questions About La Grange Official Started Last Year

LA GRANGE, IL — La Grange School District 102 board member Bessie Boyd spoke in strong terms in March about the possibility of a "precedent of unethical practice" by a colleague.

Boyd was speaking about board Vice President Ed Campbell. Last year, he volunteered his time to set up a saliva testing program in District 102 and then formed a company to market such services to other districts.

Boyd, however, said Campbell used his role with the district's testing program to get multi-million-dollar saliva testing contracts with other districts.

Campbell has questioned why Boyd, a former elementary school principal, brought up her concerns in March and not months before. He suggested it was the coming school board election and his vote in favor of continuing hybrid learning.

But the March board meeting was not the first time Boyd expressed concerns about Campbell's role.

In an Aug. 12 meeting, Boyd brought up the issue.

"A board member is involved in this whole administration," Boyd said, referring to the coronavirus testing program. "If a board member is involved and the board needs to approve dollars, how would that be looked upon in terms of the community with those dollars?"

The district's lawyer, Sara Boucek, said her understanding was that Campbell was not financially benefitting.

"He does not own a lab, and he is not owning the company in which the tests will be purchased from," said Boucek, a partner in the district's law firm, Kriha Boucek. "My understanding is that he is a conduit of information of how this process could be."

However, Boyd said one of the slides in Campbell's presentation to the board shows that he, district employees or contractors would be involved.

Responding to Boyd, Boucek said, "He cannot be hired by the district. If he would need to be hired by the district, he would have to have a different conversation about whether or not he would stay on the board. There is no financial flow-through."

Boyd said, "Just the image itself, a board member is involved in any program that involves dollars being spent."

Interrupting Boyd, a member of the public taking part through Zoom asked her, "Is there any reason why you are not wearing your face covering properly?"

Boyd said she removed her thick mask because she was trying to breathe as she was speaking. She said she wasn't close to anyone.

Boyd said nothing more about Campbell's situation.

For his part, Campbell said he did not expect to be compensated for the District 102 testing program.

"I expect to do the work and get it done because it needs to be done," he told the board. "I won't financially benefit in any way. I have a day job."

He does have a day job — as a microbiologist and immunologist at Loyola University in Chicago. On Sept. 14, he and two partners formed SafeGuard Surveillance LLC, which is based in Brookfield.

Boyd contends that Campbell used information from District 102's testing program to help his new business. But Campbell said the data in question is publicly available.

Boyd also maintains Campbell used his role as a board member to promote his business during sales presentations to other districts. In one suburban district, he highlighted his position with District 102.

In an email to Patch after the March meeting, Campbell called Boyd's comments "highly inappropriate."

"I am firm in my belief that she chose to do this due to my recent position related to reopening schools full time after spring break and because of the upcoming election," Campbell said. "I am certain that she has been in discussion with voices in our community that were disappointed in that recent decision in formulating her effort to impugn my integrity in the way she did."

Campbell was the top vote getter in the April 6 election. Boyd's term expires in two years.

In a Facebook post last week, Campbell said, "It is strange that allegations of misconduct made in March were not addressed in September. I suspect it was because they hadn't been made yet. I also think that the resounding success of the program, its positive media attention, and kids back in schools played a role in people deciding not to attack the program or me at that time."

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, Campbell said he had no financial interest and did not anticipate a financial interest in August.

"As no school had deployed a surveillance approach of the size and scope we developed in D102 in August, it would have been beyond presumptuous to assume that the program we developed would be so successful that I would be overwhelmed with interest from other schools in developing the same or similar program in their districts," Campbell said. "If others view this sequence of events as some sort of plot on my part, I appreciate them holding my scientific expertise in such high regard, but I was entirely focused on getting the program to actually work in D102, since no one had done anything like that before we did it D102."

Once the program was established, Campbell said, many schools began seeking his assistance.

"I did not solicit them, and forming a company was the only mechanism by which I could help these schools, so I formed a company," Campbell said.

In a Facebook comment Wednesday, Campbell noted he abstained from voting on funding for the saliva testing program. And he said Boyd voted for the testing program last August.