Westbrook school principal to get her hearing

Jan Ewing will get her hearing after all, but it won't be in public.

The embattled Westbrook Elementary School principal, placed on indefinite paid leave Sept. 7 for reasons Mount Prospect Elementary District 57 officials have yet to reveal, will talk with school board members in closed session Oct. 5.

Parents will be allowed to address the board at some point during the 6 p.m. meeting at Fairview Elementary School, said board President Joseph Leane.

After the closed session, the board probably will vote whether to terminate Ewing's two-year contract, he said.

"I'm expecting a vote, but I can't be 100 percent sure," Leane said.

More than 100 parents attended a packed board meeting Thursday, many wearing green, Westbrook's official color. After a two-hour public comment period, the school board met in closed session for another two hours to discuss Ewing.

Leane asked parents to trust board members, who were unable to disclose why Ewing was placed on leave. He did dispel a rumor that it was because Ewing missed one meeting with district administrators.

In a letter to the district, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily Herald, Ewing wrote, "(I) will not resign my position."

She also requested a hearing before the board of education, something she said is guaranteed in her employment contract, and has no problem with that hearing being open to the public.

However making the hearing public isn't a decision Ewing can make, said Superintendent Elaine Aumiller.

"An individual doesn't have the right to request that their hearing take place in open or closed session," she said. "The hearing process is determined by the board of education."

Ewing said her annual evaluations have been satisfactory since she began as principal in July 2007. In July of this year, she was given a two-year contract to continue in her position. In 2009, she earned about $129,000.

Calls to Ewing and her lawyer were not returned this week. She was not at Thursday's board meeting.

For the past two years, District 57 has dealt with one controversial issue after another. First there was the unexplained firing of a popular Fairview School principal in March 2009, followed by an April election that changed the entire makeup of the school board, with voters electing the four newcomers and removing the lone incumbent up for election.

A few weeks later, the board discovered Peggy Kaufmann, the district's newly hired superintendent, had hidden two DUI arrests from district officials.

Kaufmann eventually resigned and board members admitted they didn't do enough to ensure a proper background check. Aumiller was hired a week later after passing a background check.

Later in May 2009, the new school board rehired April Jordan as Fairview principal, reversing the earlier decision not to renew her contract for another two years. No official reason was ever given.

After one of their bus drivers was arrested on charges of drunken driving in March, the school board fired their transportation director and voted to outsource their transportation system.