School board president shouldn't 'take the hit' alone

After Gavin Elementary District 37 board President Barb Mende negotiated a contract to move classroom equipment back into beleaguered Gavin Central School two years ago, she told fellow school trustees "I'll take the hit" if the contract was found to be improper.

Mende did take the hit -- a Lake County judge convicted her May 23 of illegally dividing a bid in two to avoid state rules requiring competitive bidding.

Mende was exonerated on the more serious official misconduct charge, but the felony conviction nevertheless ends her school-board career.

A special board meeting Monday will address how to replace Mende, who got into trouble by telling 5-Alarm Movers of Park Ridge to split its $13,000 estimate into two $6,500 invoices, thus avoiding rules requiring the school board to go out to bid for expenses over $10,000.

The contract in January 2006 was for moving out of temporary classrooms in a Lake Zurich middle school and back into Gavin Central School in Ingleside, which had been closed for 18 months during repairs on 57 cracked roof trusses that were found in the new building.

Mende called the contract an emergency; Lake County Circuit Judge George Bridges called it illegal.

But even though she negotiated it, Mende couldn't award the contract on her own. Three more board members approved it during phone conversations with Mende -- conversations that came to light weeks later and prompted the Illinois attorney general to declare the board had violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

It's not enough for Mende to "take the hit" alone.

The board members who approved the contract -- Phil Mack (now interim board president), Kristine Johnson and Steve Moulis -- don't face charges but should be embarrassed by their roles. Mack and Johnson, who both had previous terms on the Gavin board, and Moulis, a former Fox Lake trustee, are far too experienced to claim they didn't know the rules.

We urge them to resign from the board. How can they expect to be effective board members under the cloud of this situation?

If Mack, Johnson and Moulis do not step down, we urge voters to oust them in April 2009, should they run for election again when their current terms expire.

And what to do about the position Mende leaves vacant?

It goes without saying that this discredited voting block should not stand in the way of naming a credible, ethical replacement -- a task that is in the hands of a board now divided three against three.

The replacement will serve until the April election. That's when voters must seize the chance to seat a board of education that deserves to represent the community's children, and that can leave partisanship, ethical lapses and infighting in the past.