D-219 School Board Moves To Remove Member Over Lawsuit

SKOKIE, IL — Every member of the District 219 Board of Education in attendance at last week's meeting voted to begin looking into whether it can remove one of its members from office. Mark Sproat, the former president of the board, was not at its Feb. 13 meeting as other board members resolved to ask a regional educational authority whether he has violated his oath of office and the board's code of conduct.

"Teachers, staff, parents and students have come before us and pleaded with us to do something about the behavior of one of our board colleagues," said board member Brian Novak. "And now a lawsuit has been filed against us – by one of us."

Sproat filed a lawsuit against the board looking to undo disciplinary action taken against him resulting from an independent investigation begun last year. That investigation resulted from at least five official complaints against Sproat, Pioneer Press reported.

One of those complaints was filed by former Niles West girls basketball coach Tony Konsewicz, who told the board last May that he resigned because of the "public humiliation" he said Sproat subjected him to. The then-board president was accused of using his position on the board to affect the team while his daughter was playing on it.

The coach, who was also a physical education teacher, was due to have an arbitration hearing with the district this month. Instead, they entered into a settlement agreement to pay the former coach more than $35,000 – triple what he would have received if he had stayed on as coach through 2020, according to Pioneer Press.

Board member Richard Evonitz brought the motion. He said every member of the board had agreed to a code of conduct that involved going along with majority board decisions "while retaining the right to seek changes to such decisions through ethical and constructive channels."

Sproat's lawsuit, the other board suggests, is not such a channel.

"Abiding by majority decisions, regardless of one's individual position, is an essential element to any effective board," Evonitz said, before the vote to "inquire with the executive director of the North Cook Service Center to address board member conduct that may violate the oath of office."

State law allows for a regional superintendent to remove board members from office, and the North Cook Intermediate Service Center performs that function for District 219, executive director Bruce R. Brown said. He said Feb. 20 that he has not yet met with any members of the board or received any written communications with them.

"There has been discussion of a meeting, but that date has not been set," he said.

Sproat has not responded to a message seeking comment.

» Read more from the Skokie Review,Watch the complete Feb. 13 board meeting (discussion begins around 22:00)