School District Pays Principal $15,000 To Resign Before Starting

ZION, IL — The Zion Elementary School District 6 board agreed to a $15,000 settlement payment to a newly hired principal barely a month after hiring him, the Lake County News-Sun reported. District officials defended their hiring practices after residents discovered news articles through online searches indicating the prospective employee pleaded guilty to a felony more than a dozen years ago.

The board approved a resignation agreement with the man it had appointed principal of Beulah Park Elementary School on June 6 by a vote of 4-1, with two members absent, according to minutes from the special meeting. That left the position vacant with only weeks to go before the start of the school year.

Superintendent Keely Roberts, who has not responded to repeated interview requests on the subject, had recommended the candidate for the $102,000-a-year position in April.

Due to what Board President Ruth Davis described as "ongoing discussion" among community members about "old newspaper articles," the district asked for help from its attorneys and met behind closed doors before approving the resignation.

According to online news articles, the teacher was arrested in February 2003 and charged with selling marijuana to an undercover agent while 22 years old and living in Lake Villa. It was his first year of teaching at Grant High School in Fox Lake, where he taught math and coached girls junior varsity tennis. He was not accused of selling any cannabis to students or teachers, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune.

He was sentenced to four months in jail after pleading guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor count of delivery of marijuana for twice selling 30 grams of marijuana to an agent with the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group, once at his house and once at a restaurant in Lindenhurst. An online biography of the candidate identifies him as a math teacher at a Chicago charter school. He has not responded to requests for comment.

No record of his conviction was visible in Lake County court records, suggesting he has not been subsequently convicted of a felony. People found guilty of certain felonies in Illinois are eligible to seal a single felony conviction from public view, although the information is not destroyed and remains accessible to law enforcement.

Board President Davis said the district carried out a complete criminal background check and took "all responsible and customary steps" to vet the educator before approving a contract with him, with none of those steps revealing any prior criminality, the News-Sun reported.

District 6 is represented by lawyers from the firm Hodges, Loizzi, Eisenhammer, Rodick & Kohn. The same firm represents North Shore District 112, which helped arrange the resignation of former middle school principal Matt Eriksen during an investigation in workplace misconduct, only for him to be hired by another district that was unaware of the allegations. That contract was rescinded last month without the district having to make any payment to Eriksen.

Clyde McLemore, founder of Black Lives Matter Lake County and a former candidate for the board, criticized the district, pointing out the articles about the candidate's arrest and conviction were easily available through an online search of his name, according to the News-Sun. He said the settlement was "taking the money from our district where our children can get the right education."

A spokesperson for the district told the paper online searches of candidates had "limited value" and "cannot always be verified."

Read more from the Lake County News-Sun »

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