Neale's contract hot topic at last U-46 forum

A question about former Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Connie Neale's infamous contract drew sharp breaths from audience members at Tuesday night's League of Women Voters forum.

The forum, held at the Gail Borden Public Library, was the last for the six candidates vying for three, 4-year seats on the district's school board.

Incumbents Joyce Fountain, Dale Spencer and Donna Smith, and challengers Kevin Echevarria and Gary Percy were all in attendance. Moderator Barbara Mulliken said challenger Ed Stade did not respond to the league's invitation.

The question, posed first to incumbents, then challengers, was if there were any terms of Neale's contract that they opposed.

In October 2007, months after negotiating a $60,000 raise and bonus, Neale left the district on indefinite sick leave, moving to a home in Joplin, Mo. She cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars in her final year.

Spencer, of Bartlett, reminded the roughly 75 audience members that he voted against the contract.

"I opposed the contract as a whole because I thought the salary increase and bonus were egregious. It's as simple as that," he said.

Fountain, who supported the contract enhancements, called the decision partially a personnel issue "not appropriate to make public."

Board members, she said, had to look at a number of factors in making their decision, "including value added to the district. ... That's what we do."

Smith, of Hanover Park, who also voted to raise Neale's pay, said she regretted the fact that the superintendent's contract had not been made public from the beginning.

"That way maybe some of the conversations would have happened earlier, maybe things would be different, maybe they wouldn't have," she said.

Both challengers claimed they would have been firmly against the move if serving on the board at that time; and firmly against any similar move in the future.

Percy, of Elgin, echoed Smith's thoughts on making a superintendent's contract, in its entirety, readily available to taxpayers.

"This is not corporate America," Echevarria, also of Elgin, said. "This is taxpayer money. It should be going to students. This should not have been done."