Dist. 303 under investigation again

The Kane County state's attorney has asked the St. Charles school board to turn over closed session materials from 2004 as part of an ongoing investigation into possible wrongdoing.

The probe was prompted by an individual allegation of illegal activity on the board since 2004, State's Attorney John Barsanti said Thursday.

This is the second time this year the county's highest-ranking law enforcement official has investigated such a complaint on the school board. A similar probe led school officials to admit in June that they violated the law in 2005 by approving an administrator's contract extension without a public vote.

On Thursday, Barsanti declined to name a complainant or discuss the nature of the latest investigation.

But former school board president Bobbie Raehl took responsibility for the complaint, saying she specifically asked prosecutors to look into the conduct of her former colleague and current board member Jim Gaffney.

Raehl, who also sparked the earlier investigation this year, said she believes Gaffney tried to use his power as a public official to get extra sick days for former Superintendent Barbara Erwin so she could become vested in the state pension system.

Raehl cites an undated memo bearing Gaffney's signature along with a note to district officials, saying the board agreed to credit Erwin with 340 sick days as part of a contract agreement in 2004, when actually Erwin's sick day allotment was not approved and did not start accumulating until 2005.

"There was an attempt to get (Erwin) vested by Jim (Gaffney)," Raehl said. "It was a misuse and an attempted misuse of public funds."

Gaffney did not return a phone message seeking comment Thursday.

Raehl, who lost her seat to Gaffney in the spring election, said she wanted to report the allegation months ago, but wasn't able to obtain the memo in question until late July. She said she had no choice but to turn it over to authorities. "When it comes to honesty and integrity, there is no room for compromise," Raehl said.

District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann, who replaced Erwin in July, said the district was cooperating with the state's attorney.

Specifically, the board has been asked for tape recordings of four closed session meetings in early 2004 and minutes from several other closed sessions during the same time frame, he said.

School officials already have given the meeting minutes to investigators, but are still reviewing the legality of turning over tape recordings that may contain student and employee information that must remain confidential, according to Schlomann.

Barsanti said he hopes to complete the investigation in the coming weeks.