District 62 could fire superintendent at special meeting
Editor's note: If you have knowledge about reasons Des Plaines Elementary District 62 is considering termination of Superintendent Floyd Williams Jr., please call (847) 427-4571 or email ckoop@dailyherald.com. Your name won't be used without your permission.
Des Plaines Elementary District 62 school board members may terminate the employment of Superintendent Floyd Williams during a special meeting Wednesday.
A meeting agenda released Monday indicates the board will consider a separation agreement with Williams, who's in the middle of a three-year contract. Williams has been absent nearly a month for an undisclosed reason the district has called a private matter.
District spokeswoman Jennifer Tempest Bova said she could not comment. Board President Stephanie Duckmann did not immediately return a phone call Monday afternoon.
An email to Williams was not immediately returned Monday.
Williams, who was hired in July 2016, has been absent since Oct. 17. He went on paid leave Oct. 31, a day after the school board first met regarding his employment. The board met in executive session behind closed doors again last week but did not take action.
During that meeting, the school board released a statement calling the absence a "mutually-agreed-upon paid leave." The statement also said the board and Williams were discussing his employment status.
In response last week to a public records request for communications about complaints against Williams, the district said such a document exists. But the district did not release the document, citing state law exempting a "predecisional record, in which opinions are expressed, or policies or actions are formulated and the records have not been publicly disclosed by the head of the public body."
Williams is in the second year of a three-year contract that pays him an annual salary of $198,000. His sudden absence came just days after the school board considered giving him a raise. The amount of the proposed salary hike has not been disclosed because the board did not take action at the meeting.
Weeks after Williams started the job, the Daily Herald reported on misconduct allegations he faced before resigning as an assistant superintendent from a school district in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
The complaints included allegations from his former boss that he had nude images on his work computer and took photos of a staff member that made her feel uncomfortable. Williams also was accused of making inappropriate comments to his assistant and directing her to perform personal tasks for him and his family, documents obtained through a request under Wisconsin's Open Records Law state.
The school board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Forest Elementary School, 1375 Fifth Ave.