Suburban School Official Pushes Girlfriend For Job

SUMMIT, IL – A suburban Chicago school official pushed for his girlfriend to get an extra job at the school.

At one point, he threatened to fire the athletic director if the director did not give her the job.

The situation was at Argo Community High School. This is where the superintendent resigned in November after an investigation revealed his spending of taxpayers' money on porn and other personal items.

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

The texts were obtained through Patch's public records request.

In the messages, Kozal pushed for his girlfriend, with whom he lives, to become an assistant track coach, in addition to her full-time job at the school.

In one set of messages, Tough, who is white, stated, "Actually, I'm black guys."

It was unclear what she meant, but Kozal said shortly after, "Speaking of black did the f-ng QB ... AD get off his ass and hire Tracy yet."

At the time, the athletic director was Nick Browder, a former quarterback who is African American.

"I'll fire his ass"

In another 2019 message including Manzke, Kozal said, "Don't let the f–head AD f– with Tracy... I'll fire his ass too like the super ... lol."

Tough was hired as an assistant track coach, although Browder indicated in earlier emails that the school had candidates with experience, including one with eight years.

Tough was in the track coaching position for a time, then became an assistant cheer coach. For her full-time job, Tough is now the $71,000-a-year communications specialist in the business office.

In an interview Monday, Kozal, who is still on the board, said he held no power as president to hire employees, other than his vote for superintendent.

He said he could not recall the texts in question, saying he deletes his messages all the time.

"As a board president, your role is to run the board meetings. I do set up the agendas as the board president," Kozal said. "I didn't get involved in the day-to-day operations of the school. That's why we have a superintendent. I had no influence on how they hired."

As for the firing threat, Kozal noted he used the acronym for "laugh out loud" afterward.

He said Tough has served in union-covered positions.

"I stay out of Ms. Tough's work at Argo," Kozal said. "She is in a union. I never wanted to create a problem with the union."

He said he abstains from any vote that involves Tough's compensation.

"It doesn't look good"

In summer 2024, Tough received a $2,724 stipend as part of her communications specialist role.

District records show that the school board approved other stipends, but not Tough's.

At the time, business office manager Sylvia Podzorny told then-Superintendent William Toulios that Tough's stipend would start after the board's approval. She said that would be consistent with the process for other employees' stipends.

Toulios, however, signed off on the stipend without going to the board.

In his interview Monday, Kozal said Toulios made a mistake in doing so.

"He should have gone through the board," Kozal said, referring to the former superintendent. "It doesn't look good. It's not part of the union contract. You don't differ from the union contract."

Contacted by Patch, Tough originally scheduled an interview for last week. But she later declined, saying her union advised against it.

Manzke provided the text messages in question to the school's central office in response to Patch's public records request.

In an interview, Manzke said that's why all the information is now known.

"I want to do what's best for the community," she said. "I felt like I wasn't being heard."

In messages with a co-worker at the time, Manzke expressed frustration about the situation.

"I'm in the worst position ever," she said.

After last April's election, a 5-2 board majority replaced Kozal with Jennifer Grenier as president. (Kozal and member Nicholas Caprio dissented.)

In response to a Patch inquiry about Kozal's 2019 messages, Grenier said she could not comment on specific people and communications "as this matter may involve personnel and legal considerations."

"Consistent with our obligations under board policy and applicable law, the appropriate next steps will be taken to review this matter through the proper legal and governance channels," she said.

She promised openness with the public.

"Unprofessional and sad"

At least in one case, Tough appears to have used her public email address to chastise a teacher whom she believed had disparaged Kozal. She copied her message to top officials.

In the message, Tough told the teacher that she heard she made comments that Kozal cheated in his victory at the Chuck a Duck event on alumni night.

"I think it is very unprofessional and sad that you choose to gossip about staff or (board of education) members. Especially when you do not know your facts or the truth," Tough said in the February 2025 email.

Tough said she was willing to get the school's resource officers to pull video footage to prove that Kozal was above board.

The email was copied to Kozal, Superintendent Toulios, Principal Brandon Cotter, athletics secretary and former board member Lauren Vasquez, Athletic Director Ryan Skendzel and Assistant Principal John Dagres.

Tough's email was about a month after Patch published its first story questioning Toulios' spending. He was placed on leave that April.

The teacher remains employed with the school.

Here are the text messages involving Dan Kozal, Tracy Tough and Eva Manzke: