Suburban Official Uses Insider Role For Wife's School Job

SUMMIT, IL – A school board member for Argo Community High School in Summit has taken a particular interest in an employee's future at the school.

The employee? His wife.

Last month, board member Michael Vasquez emailed the top human resources official about his wife's job as the athletic department's secretary.

Two years ago, then-Superintendent William Toulios hired Lauren Vasquez for the position while she was still a board member. Days before starting, she resigned from her board position for "personal matters."

Shortly afterward, Michael Vasquez was appointed to the board.

Months later, then-Superintendent William Toulios moved Lauren Vasquez's position from 10 months to 12 months. He did not get the board's approval, even though he was required to do so. It's a decision that the board is expected to reverse.

Last fall, Toulios was pressured out after an internal inquiry found he spent public money on porn and other personal uses. The state police are investigating.

In an email to board members last month, Nicole Wasko, the school's assistant superintendent of human resources, noted the board's recent closed session discussion about the athletic secretary position.

Wasko said a "very viable" option was to move Lauren Vasquez to a 12-month assistant position in the buildings and grounds department. This, she said, would let the school advertise the athletic job as a 12-month position.

In his reply to Wasko's email, Michael Vasquez asked about the building and grounds secretary's compensation.

Wasko said the pay would stay the same for Vasquez.

"I'm really trying to come up with the best solution for both the district and Lauren from being financially impacted," Wasko said.

In a later email, Michael Vasquez said the school could change the building grounds position to 12 months, doing it the correct way.

"But I don't feel it would be in our district's best interest for Lauren to take it, merely due to the fact that it's going to draw even more attention that again a position was altered and a board member's spouse filled the position," he said.

If his wife took the job, he said she would undergo a lot of scrutiny.

"I think this (is) going to cause more strife and cause for more (Freedom of Information Act requests) to be filed, causing us to spend more time and money proving we did nothing wrong," Michael Vasquez said.

The Vasquezes did not return a call for comment from a week and a half ago.

The then-superintendent's decision to increase Lauren Vasquez's schedule wasn't the only time he bypassed the board.

In 2024, Toulios gave the top finance official, Joe Rojek, a nearly $30,000 annual benefit that no one else got. Rojek, who is leaving the school this summer, was the only one to get the perk, which was a tax-sheltered retirement annuity.

The investigation into Toulios found that Rojek weakened money controls, allowing the superintendent's questionable spending.

Michael Vasquez is also not the first board member to take a special interest in a loved one's employment.

In 2019, then-school board President Dan Kozal repeatedly took part in group texts with his girlfriend, Tracy Tough, with whom he lives, and Eva Manzke, the girls track coach.

He pushed to get Tough, who worked in a clerical position at the school, an extra job as an assistant track coach.

At one point, he referred to the athletic director in an email, saying, "Don't let the f–head AD f– with Tracy... I'll fire his ass too like the super ... lol."

Tough got the job.