According to the Daily Southtown, Charles Flowers might just be the last regional superintendent in suburban Cook County.
Legislation in the works calls for abolishing the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education, as members of a committee backing the measure continue to toil away at a plan to efficiently distribute the responsibilities if the office disappears.
"We need to redesign the system," said Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Des Plaines), who introduced the bill to dissolve the office. "The real problem is the schools are not getting the services they need. I think eliminating that office is the best way to get those services."
Forest Ridge School District 142 Supt. Margaret Longo is leading a committee of academic, legal and financial minds proposing to disperse the regional office's current responsibilities to the three Intermediate Service Centers.
Suburban Cook's regional office - plagued by a lack of funding and being the largest in the state, with more than 140 school districts and 25,000 educators - is the only county in Illinois with the intermediate centers, which are charged with a number of duties other regional offices complete on their own.
The plan would be to work within the regional office's $1.5 million budget, increase assistance and bring the services closer to the teachers, Longo said.
"We understand the fiscal climate of our state," Longo said. "We just want a more effective use of our monies and time."
In effect, a number of districts that have run into roadblock after roadblock with Flowers' office have been operating without the regional office.
"It's been close to a year that I've even had to call them," said Atwood Heights School District 125 Supt. Tom Livingston, who, like many area superintendents, has directed his staff to neighboring regional offices and intermediate offices. "The call-back time, especially when I'd have an emergency like a student who may be considered homeless, was a problem."
It wouldn't be the first time the Legislature voted to do away with a regional office with a reputation of nepotism, bureaucracy and reckless spending. In 1991, lawmakers abolished the Cook County regional office of education, only to establish the suburban Cook County office, thanks in part to some heavy politicking.
With growing concerns regarding current Regional Supt. Flowers - who is the target of a criminal probe by the Cook County state's attorney's office for alleged financial and ethical misconduct - the calls to do away with the office once and for all are now louder than ever.
Flowers did not return calls for comment.
"It's just a shame that someone's lack of leadership and ineptness can cause a whole office to collapse, but if it will better serve the teachers, it has to be done," said Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman (R-Orland Park).
Both Nekritz and Longo emphasize the legislation, which is expected to come up for a vote in the spring session, targets only suburban Cook's regional office, not any of the other 44 statewide. No one even filed for the 2010 race for Flowers' spot, a spokeswoman for Cook County Clerk David Orr said.
A number of Southland districts rely on the intermediate center in Chicago Heights, and they can lean even harder if the legislation goes through, executive director Vanessa Kinder said.
"I think it's a very good, sound plan," said Kinder, who serves on the committee. "We already have a great reputation in our districts, and we're in their back yards."
STILL CLOSED
In a rush to avoid almost certain eviction for failure to pay more than $10,000 in back rent, regional schools chief Charles Flowers packed up the regional office of education and moved into a Broadview office building.
Seven working days later, Broadview officials closed it for not having the proper paperwork - namely an occupancy permit.
That was Nov. 10. As of Thursday afternoon, almost a month later, the office remained closed.
Not that anyone calling the regional office's general number would know. The voicemail message makes no mention of it. Only a message on the Web site reads "closed until further notice."
Numerous calls to the village of Broadview's building department were not returned.
Showing posts with label Daily Southtown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Southtown. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Daily Southtown Says: "Time to Send Flowers Packing"
The Daily Southtown published an editorial today saying it's "Time to Send Flowers Packing." Here's the editorial:
R eform of state government is an issue to which we are dedicated; some might even say we're obsessed. The list of things to be fixed in Illinois governance is long, depressing, and growing. Add this: We need ways to remove tainted public officials from office.
It's a miracle we're not still stuck with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Thankfully the state Senate was able to drive him from office after corruption charges. But, there are more poisoned flowers among Illinois' vast fields of elected offices - or, in the latest case, Charles Flowers.
Flowers holds the elected position of Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education Superintendent. He has a record of financial abuse and misconduct dating to his days as board president at west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89.
On Tuesday, the Cook County Board voted non-confidence in Flowers, in the face of months of reporting by this newspaper, and a state audit documenting his arrogant and profligate use of public funds. A criminal investigation is under way.
This should be enough to at least suspend an official, if not boot him entirely. But Illinois and Cook County have almost no way to remove suspect office holders; we'd not be surprised to see some insisting on being paid while behind bars.
Inevitably when the notion is raised of ousting people such as Flowers, responses include "innocent until proven guilty." Let's put that nonsense aside.
Innocence until guilt is proven is a vitally important premise in America. But it has nothing to do with employment, elected or otherwise. It solely means that before we take away a person's freedom, their guilt must be proved in court, to the very high standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt."
In the court of public opinion, or the determination of suitability for employment, this standard does not hold. Nor should it.
Anyone in a non-elected job facing the findings in the Flowers audit would have been fired by now. One questionable expense account is all it takes for most employees to lose their job. Elected officials who love to compare themselves to employees when seeking raises or benefits or perks barely acknowledge this when fighting to stay long after their competence or honesty are shown wanting.
Flowers should go. And there should be means to make his going less torturous and time-consuming.
Situations such as this show why Illinois should re-think the number of offices to which we elect people. As a starting point, electing people to do public service is unassailable, and this element of democracy has largely been brought to the world by America. It goes to the roots of the revolution that gave birth to our great country. And perhaps a return to those roots is in order.
"No taxation without representation" made sense 250 years ago, and does still. No processing of teaching certificates without representation? Maybe not. But that's the primary role of the office Flowers abuses.
That so many such arcane and narrow roles are elected offices is one reason voter turnout for them is minimal. Who among us can truly determine who is suited to such work? (We can determine it after audits and investigations and solid journalism have exposed the lack of it, but beforehand, no.)
Exploitive and abusive people such as Flowers move from one office to another. After his record at the park district (another that shouldn't require election) he was able to become education superintendent.
And while we decry low turnouts for offices such as county board, it's understandable why few vote for lesser offices. But that allows the likes of Flowers to hold such offices through influence within a political machine or among a few who want to enjoy the fruits of his abuse (as Flowers has rained public money on friends and relatives, for example.)
Illinois needs to set legislated standards below which elected office holders can be ousted by higher levels of government, or are automatically required to resign or at least be suspended. Or, despite its own limitations and potential for abuse due to the same low turnouts that bring us cads like Flowers, voters need to be able to recall office holders, using petition to force votes that could expel them from office.
Illinois became a national embarrassment in the months it took to force Blagojevich out. But that happened at the speed of light compared with what it usually takes to purge our governance of such people.
Maybe we need to have David Letterman mock Flowers until he just quits.
R eform of state government is an issue to which we are dedicated; some might even say we're obsessed. The list of things to be fixed in Illinois governance is long, depressing, and growing. Add this: We need ways to remove tainted public officials from office.
It's a miracle we're not still stuck with Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Thankfully the state Senate was able to drive him from office after corruption charges. But, there are more poisoned flowers among Illinois' vast fields of elected offices - or, in the latest case, Charles Flowers.
Flowers holds the elected position of Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education Superintendent. He has a record of financial abuse and misconduct dating to his days as board president at west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89.
On Tuesday, the Cook County Board voted non-confidence in Flowers, in the face of months of reporting by this newspaper, and a state audit documenting his arrogant and profligate use of public funds. A criminal investigation is under way.
This should be enough to at least suspend an official, if not boot him entirely. But Illinois and Cook County have almost no way to remove suspect office holders; we'd not be surprised to see some insisting on being paid while behind bars.
Inevitably when the notion is raised of ousting people such as Flowers, responses include "innocent until proven guilty." Let's put that nonsense aside.
Innocence until guilt is proven is a vitally important premise in America. But it has nothing to do with employment, elected or otherwise. It solely means that before we take away a person's freedom, their guilt must be proved in court, to the very high standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt."
In the court of public opinion, or the determination of suitability for employment, this standard does not hold. Nor should it.
Anyone in a non-elected job facing the findings in the Flowers audit would have been fired by now. One questionable expense account is all it takes for most employees to lose their job. Elected officials who love to compare themselves to employees when seeking raises or benefits or perks barely acknowledge this when fighting to stay long after their competence or honesty are shown wanting.
Flowers should go. And there should be means to make his going less torturous and time-consuming.
Situations such as this show why Illinois should re-think the number of offices to which we elect people. As a starting point, electing people to do public service is unassailable, and this element of democracy has largely been brought to the world by America. It goes to the roots of the revolution that gave birth to our great country. And perhaps a return to those roots is in order.
"No taxation without representation" made sense 250 years ago, and does still. No processing of teaching certificates without representation? Maybe not. But that's the primary role of the office Flowers abuses.
That so many such arcane and narrow roles are elected offices is one reason voter turnout for them is minimal. Who among us can truly determine who is suited to such work? (We can determine it after audits and investigations and solid journalism have exposed the lack of it, but beforehand, no.)
Exploitive and abusive people such as Flowers move from one office to another. After his record at the park district (another that shouldn't require election) he was able to become education superintendent.
And while we decry low turnouts for offices such as county board, it's understandable why few vote for lesser offices. But that allows the likes of Flowers to hold such offices through influence within a political machine or among a few who want to enjoy the fruits of his abuse (as Flowers has rained public money on friends and relatives, for example.)
Illinois needs to set legislated standards below which elected office holders can be ousted by higher levels of government, or are automatically required to resign or at least be suspended. Or, despite its own limitations and potential for abuse due to the same low turnouts that bring us cads like Flowers, voters need to be able to recall office holders, using petition to force votes that could expel them from office.
Illinois became a national embarrassment in the months it took to force Blagojevich out. But that happened at the speed of light compared with what it usually takes to purge our governance of such people.
Maybe we need to have David Letterman mock Flowers until he just quits.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Daily Southtown Exposes Regional Superintendent Charles Flowers As Financial Failure!!!
The Daily Southtown newspaper wrote a detailed article exposing the corruption and failure of Charles Flowers as Superintendent. Here's the article and reporter contact information below:
When Charles Flowers took over the reins of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education two years ago, critics were skeptical of his baggage.
Flowers, a former special education teacher and administrator, has a history of questionable financial dealings from his days as board president at west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89. But he came into office in 2007 vowing to root out corruption and bring reform to Cook County public schools.
Once he became regional superintendent, Flowers hired relatives and friends and then began giving employees salary advance loans. Then he went to Cook County government for an emergency loan, which the regional office has yet to repay.
In April, the regional office couldn't make payroll and earlier this year the department didn't pay its group health insurance premiums on time, leading the company to temporarily cancel workers' health benefits.
So where's the money?
After several unsuccessful attempts to reach Flowers in the past weeks, he said in a brief conversation this week that he would not comment.
"I am not in front of those documents," Flowers said.
Numerous calls to top administrators in the office also were not returned.
The office was more than $413,000 in debt when Flowers was elected. According to the last available financial audit from June 30, 2007, "If the regional office continues to operate at the current level ... its ability to continue ... may be questioned in future years."
Instead of slashing expenses, the office initially added staff and approved raises for administrators, all of whom at the time held doctorates. Salaries then ranged between $75,244 and $100,325, which in some cases was more than double the pay for the same positions under former Regional Supt. Bob Ingraffia.
Many of the problems at the regional office echo Flowers' troubles as a Maywood-Melrose school board member. In 2002 and 2003 Flowers came under fire for stacking the staff with friends who were paid more than their predecessors and for authorizing frivolous spending on laptops and cell phones for board members in a district with a $3 million deficit. All but six of the 200 laptops were later found in unopened boxes in a storage room by an auditing firm.
Flowers himself had his assets frozen for failing to pay $51,188 in income taxes in the past few years, which Flowers had previously said he was contesting.
Pay advance loans
After Flowers became superintendent in July 2007, he put his two sisters and a nephew on the payroll.
Less than a year on the job, he approved a salary advance of $6,000 to his sister Barbara Flowers, who is also his executive assistant, and $9,000 to friend Arbdella Hayes-Patterson, who oversees the truancy program, according to documents obtained by the SouthtownStar.
Approving what is in essence a loan for employees is unusual, said Marc Kiehna, the president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools.
"I think common sense and law tell us we should have contracts and pay our employees accordingly," he said. "It's not a procedure that I would do. Typically people earn the money that we give them."
As for the legality of it, Kiehna said "I would question it."
Neither Barbara Flowers nor Hayes-Patterson returned calls this week for comment about the loans.
Missed paychecks, cut-off insurance
Last month, the regional office couldn't make payroll, forcing employees to go almost two weeks without pay. Staff received paychecks Monday, which was just within the window allowed by an Illinois Department of Labor law that outlines just how late employees can get paid.
In the April 15 memo Flowers sent to his staff informing them payroll would be delayed, he wrote, "I regret having to take this action, but the funds simply are not there at this time."
With the next round of paychecks due today, a number of workers have said they are worried those checks will also be late - if they come at all. This comes in addition to layoffs within the past couple of weeks and switching some employees from fulltime to parttime, which also occurred in the past few weeks. It's unknown how many workers from the staff of about two dozen were laid off or had their hours cut.
Health insurance for those same employees was temporarily interrupted due to nonpayment earlier this year, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois confirmed. Coverage has since been restored.
Since the SouthtownStar started asking questions, employees have described the work environment as "hostile and tense." They've said administrators are "interrogating" employees, looking through phone records and e-mails to see who leaked information to the media.
Unpaid loans
In 2008 and 2009, Flowers, who currently makes $103,234, submitted budgets identical to his predecessor from one year prior - with the exception of a more than $10,000 increase for rent after the office moved, according to documents acquired through a SouthtownStar Freedom of Information Act request .
The approximately $670,000 operations budget does not include about $2.5 million in state and federal grants Flowers expected for 2009, as well as revenue from certification and fingerprinting, among other programs.
But of that expected revenue, the office will not receive $1.7 million from a state truancy grant. For years, the office won the competitive grant, but after Flowers took over and the amount requested went from about $100,000 in 2007 to $1.7 million, the state didn't approve the grant.
What was approved in June 2008 was a $190,000 taxpayer-backed loan from the Cook County Board.
That money was used for operations and has been spent, Flowers said. It is unclear if the office will make the June 30 repayment deadline.
Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman (R-Orland Park) cast the sole "no" vote when the request for the money came in last year.
"All Flowers did was pad it (the staff) with his friends and family and then come to us, to (board president Todd) Stroger, for a loan. How ironic," Gorman said.
After the dissenting vote, Gorman said Flowers' office contacted her to discuss the loan. She said her office called back daily, then weekly, to set up a time, and no one got back to her, which made her even more comfortable with her vote.
"If they can't sit down and meet, that just shows their inaccessibility and ineptness." Gorman said. "If they're this unresponsive to elected officials, I can only imagine what it's like with the community and teachers they have to serve."
Delays for certification
The office is responsible for services to 143 school districts and 400,000 students in suburban Cook County. One of its larger roles is to oversee teacher certifications and licensing.
However, at the top of Southland administrators' list of complaints are long delays in teacher certification and a difficulty getting anyone at the office to answer the phone.
The SouthtownStar attempted to retrieve a list of uncertified personnel in the county through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the regional office said it did not maintain such a list. In addition, the office did not provide a list of personnel for whom the office has received applications but have yet to be certified, saying, "The Illinois State Board of Education certifies educational personnel."
Also in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the ISBE said it also could not provide those lists.
In contrast, the teacher certification specialist at the Will County Regional Office of Education said she could provide a list of certification applications waiting to be processed.
It's gotten so bad, districts are circumventing the office that should act as an arm of the state board of education.
"We go directly to ISBE," Forest Ridge School District 142 Supt. Margaret Longo said of teacher certifications.
In Community High School District 218, Supt. John Byrne said the district has lost potential teachers because the office didn't verify certification in time. Reports and surveys the district passes on to the office on time often arrive late to the ISBE, he added.
"Many of those have to do with financial deadlines," Byrne said.
In his 20 years dealing with the regional office, Byrne said he has never had so many problems.
"I'm trying not to assess blame, but something is missing here. It always worked before."
Duaa Eldeib can be reached at deldeib@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5960.
When Charles Flowers took over the reins of the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education two years ago, critics were skeptical of his baggage.
Flowers, a former special education teacher and administrator, has a history of questionable financial dealings from his days as board president at west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89. But he came into office in 2007 vowing to root out corruption and bring reform to Cook County public schools.
Once he became regional superintendent, Flowers hired relatives and friends and then began giving employees salary advance loans. Then he went to Cook County government for an emergency loan, which the regional office has yet to repay.
In April, the regional office couldn't make payroll and earlier this year the department didn't pay its group health insurance premiums on time, leading the company to temporarily cancel workers' health benefits.
So where's the money?
After several unsuccessful attempts to reach Flowers in the past weeks, he said in a brief conversation this week that he would not comment.
"I am not in front of those documents," Flowers said.
Numerous calls to top administrators in the office also were not returned.
The office was more than $413,000 in debt when Flowers was elected. According to the last available financial audit from June 30, 2007, "If the regional office continues to operate at the current level ... its ability to continue ... may be questioned in future years."
Instead of slashing expenses, the office initially added staff and approved raises for administrators, all of whom at the time held doctorates. Salaries then ranged between $75,244 and $100,325, which in some cases was more than double the pay for the same positions under former Regional Supt. Bob Ingraffia.
Many of the problems at the regional office echo Flowers' troubles as a Maywood-Melrose school board member. In 2002 and 2003 Flowers came under fire for stacking the staff with friends who were paid more than their predecessors and for authorizing frivolous spending on laptops and cell phones for board members in a district with a $3 million deficit. All but six of the 200 laptops were later found in unopened boxes in a storage room by an auditing firm.
Flowers himself had his assets frozen for failing to pay $51,188 in income taxes in the past few years, which Flowers had previously said he was contesting.
Pay advance loans
After Flowers became superintendent in July 2007, he put his two sisters and a nephew on the payroll.
Less than a year on the job, he approved a salary advance of $6,000 to his sister Barbara Flowers, who is also his executive assistant, and $9,000 to friend Arbdella Hayes-Patterson, who oversees the truancy program, according to documents obtained by the SouthtownStar.
Approving what is in essence a loan for employees is unusual, said Marc Kiehna, the president of the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools.
"I think common sense and law tell us we should have contracts and pay our employees accordingly," he said. "It's not a procedure that I would do. Typically people earn the money that we give them."
As for the legality of it, Kiehna said "I would question it."
Neither Barbara Flowers nor Hayes-Patterson returned calls this week for comment about the loans.
Missed paychecks, cut-off insurance
Last month, the regional office couldn't make payroll, forcing employees to go almost two weeks without pay. Staff received paychecks Monday, which was just within the window allowed by an Illinois Department of Labor law that outlines just how late employees can get paid.
In the April 15 memo Flowers sent to his staff informing them payroll would be delayed, he wrote, "I regret having to take this action, but the funds simply are not there at this time."
With the next round of paychecks due today, a number of workers have said they are worried those checks will also be late - if they come at all. This comes in addition to layoffs within the past couple of weeks and switching some employees from fulltime to parttime, which also occurred in the past few weeks. It's unknown how many workers from the staff of about two dozen were laid off or had their hours cut.
Health insurance for those same employees was temporarily interrupted due to nonpayment earlier this year, a spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois confirmed. Coverage has since been restored.
Since the SouthtownStar started asking questions, employees have described the work environment as "hostile and tense." They've said administrators are "interrogating" employees, looking through phone records and e-mails to see who leaked information to the media.
Unpaid loans
In 2008 and 2009, Flowers, who currently makes $103,234, submitted budgets identical to his predecessor from one year prior - with the exception of a more than $10,000 increase for rent after the office moved, according to documents acquired through a SouthtownStar Freedom of Information Act request .
The approximately $670,000 operations budget does not include about $2.5 million in state and federal grants Flowers expected for 2009, as well as revenue from certification and fingerprinting, among other programs.
But of that expected revenue, the office will not receive $1.7 million from a state truancy grant. For years, the office won the competitive grant, but after Flowers took over and the amount requested went from about $100,000 in 2007 to $1.7 million, the state didn't approve the grant.
What was approved in June 2008 was a $190,000 taxpayer-backed loan from the Cook County Board.
That money was used for operations and has been spent, Flowers said. It is unclear if the office will make the June 30 repayment deadline.
Cook County Commissioner Elizabeth Doody Gorman (R-Orland Park) cast the sole "no" vote when the request for the money came in last year.
"All Flowers did was pad it (the staff) with his friends and family and then come to us, to (board president Todd) Stroger, for a loan. How ironic," Gorman said.
After the dissenting vote, Gorman said Flowers' office contacted her to discuss the loan. She said her office called back daily, then weekly, to set up a time, and no one got back to her, which made her even more comfortable with her vote.
"If they can't sit down and meet, that just shows their inaccessibility and ineptness." Gorman said. "If they're this unresponsive to elected officials, I can only imagine what it's like with the community and teachers they have to serve."
Delays for certification
The office is responsible for services to 143 school districts and 400,000 students in suburban Cook County. One of its larger roles is to oversee teacher certifications and licensing.
However, at the top of Southland administrators' list of complaints are long delays in teacher certification and a difficulty getting anyone at the office to answer the phone.
The SouthtownStar attempted to retrieve a list of uncertified personnel in the county through a Freedom of Information Act request, but the regional office said it did not maintain such a list. In addition, the office did not provide a list of personnel for whom the office has received applications but have yet to be certified, saying, "The Illinois State Board of Education certifies educational personnel."
Also in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the ISBE said it also could not provide those lists.
In contrast, the teacher certification specialist at the Will County Regional Office of Education said she could provide a list of certification applications waiting to be processed.
It's gotten so bad, districts are circumventing the office that should act as an arm of the state board of education.
"We go directly to ISBE," Forest Ridge School District 142 Supt. Margaret Longo said of teacher certifications.
In Community High School District 218, Supt. John Byrne said the district has lost potential teachers because the office didn't verify certification in time. Reports and surveys the district passes on to the office on time often arrive late to the ISBE, he added.
"Many of those have to do with financial deadlines," Byrne said.
In his 20 years dealing with the regional office, Byrne said he has never had so many problems.
"I'm trying not to assess blame, but something is missing here. It always worked before."
Duaa Eldeib can be reached at deldeib@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5960.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Daily Southtown Exposes Charles Flowers!!!
The Daily Southtown's Sunday edition carried a story exposing new Regional Superintendent Charles A. Flowers. The headline read: Does the Watchdog need to be watched? Here's the article by Angela Caputo, Staff writer:
In his first six months on the job, the office of suburban Cook County's top school official - whose assets are frozen for failure to pay taxes - has grown to include senior staffers with track records of misusing school money and even steering a local district toward financial ruin.
Their mission, they say: to root out corruption in the 143 school districts they oversee.
Suburban Cook County Regional Supt. Charles Flowers has put school officials on notice: Get on board with his reform agenda or face the legal consequences.
"If it doesn't apply to you, don't listen to it," is Flowers' message to any superintendent who's operating aboveboard.
But the warning has struck a nerve with some Southland administrators already angered by a sharp decline in service at the office - which acts as a liaison between school districts and the state board of education - since Flowers took the post this past summer.
"Where's the corruption?" said Orland School District 135 Supt. Dennis Soustek. "The regional office of education is saying they're targeting corruption. Are they on a witch hunt for it?"
Rolling out reform
When south suburban school administrators gathered for a breakfast meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in Alsip this fall, Charles Flowers launched his reform campaign by introducing himself and his new director of ethics and fiscal compliance, Willie Mack.
That's when school officials realized the event was anything but routine.
Mack, who earns $87,900 a year, put the school officials on notice that it's his job to crack down on the region's corrupt administrators.
What type of corruption the regional superintendent's office is trying to root out is vague. Flowers said he's fielded calls about residency and homeless enrollment disputes but declined to specify what complaints he's forwarded to the Cook County state's attorney's office for investigation. A state's attorney's office spokesman declined to elaborate on any information received from the superintendent.
Mack is a familiar face among the region's administrators. He worked as the superintendent of Calumet School District 132 in the late 1990s but was forced from the job. He also briefly held the top administrative job in west suburban Bellwood District 88 in 2005 but was fired just months into his contract for suspected misuse of money, according to the Maywood Herald, a Sun-Times News Group publication.
Evergreen Park High Supt. Jim Gallagher, known for aggressively guarding District 231 from non-resident enrollment, said he thought Flowers' warning went too far.
"Nowhere in the school code does it say that the regional superintendent can get involved (in residency issues)," Gallagher said. "It's a local decision."
Reform roots
Flowers won a seat on a west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89 school board for his reputation as a reformer nearly a decade ago. Initially, he led the charge to scrutinize spending. He railed against a lax attitude toward academic accountability among the administrators. And he heeded the public's advice on how to turn the situation around.
After being named the board's president two years later, however, Flowers' reputation began to spoil because he authorized frivolous spending and hired friends at salaries higher than their previous jobs, according to an analysis by the Maywood Herald.
He came under fire in 2002 for hiring eight administrators - including a new Supt. Elizabeth Reynolds - from Park Forest School District 163, where he had worked the year before as director of special education.
While the district was grappling with a $3 million budget shortfall that school year, the board approved a new laptop computer and cell phones for themselves.
Other questionable expenses revealed by an audit include $16,764 on food and snacks, $26,200 on cellular telephone bills and $30,000 for out-of-town conventions where alcohol and room service were purchased through the school district's credit card during the 2002- 03 school year while Flowers was the school board president and Elizabeth Reynolds was the superintendent.
And after buying 200 new laptop computers during that school year, 194 sat in unopened boxes in a storage room. They were found by the Oak Brook-based auditing firm PTW & Co. The district spent $277,000 on the unused equipment.
'They don't even answer the phone'
The reputation of the regional superintendent's office has suffered under Flowers' leadership, according to some Southland school administrators.
Decisions such as assigning Deputy Supt. Harry Reynolds to conduct an inspection at Calumet School District 132 - where his wife, Elizabeth, presides as superintendent - have generated criticism.
But the real frustration lies in the office's inability to answer phone calls and return messages, school officials say.
"The general feeling is that we don't know where they're at or what they're doing," District 218 Supt. John Byrne said. "They don't even answer the phone."
In District 218, for example, 60 sophomores are waiting to enroll in a geometry class, but that can't happen until certification for a new teacher is complete. Under the former regional superintendent, certification would have been done by now, Byrne said.
Flowers attributes the holdups to staffing shortages at the state board of education.
In a spartan office tucked in the corner of an aging Westchester school building, Flowers' office buzzes with activity. Teachers line up at a reception desk with questions about their certification status. Staffers dig through battered filing cabinets for answers while juggling a steady stream of phone calls.
Most of the current staff is new under Flowers, who said the office and its employees are just hitting stride.
Six months into the fiscal year, however, a budget has yet to be drawn, meaning administrators don't have a clear plan for how they'll spend the roughly $1.2 million, mostly in tax revenue, they'll receive this year.
"It continues to be a work in progress," Flowers said via e-mail in response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the financial information. "I can't provide information that does not exist."
Nonetheless, the office has managed to bulk up staff to include two new administrative assistants, both of whom are Flowers' relatives. Top-tier administrators, all of whom hold doctorate degrees, also have received pay raises - with salaries ranging between $75,244 and $100,325 - more than doubling in some cases when compared to the same positions under former Regional Supt. Bob Ingraffia. In Ingraffia's administration, for example, the office's third in command earned $55,822 per year compared with $87,901 this year.
Flower's assets were frozen for failing to pay his income tax - totaling $51,188 - in recent years, a fact that brings into question his ability to provide financial oversight, according to the Better Government Association, a watchdog group.
"If he can't manage his own finances how can he manage his office's finances?" said BGA director Jay Stewart.
Flowers told the SouthtownStar he's contesting the taxes, which accrued during his employment as a special education director in Tinley Park-based Kirby School District 146 and Park Forest District 163. He declined to elaborate on why he has such an overdue tax bill.
Whatever the reason may be, his chance for contesting a lien is likely over, according to Dan Pavlik, director of Loyola University's federal tax clinic. "The government only resorts to freezing assets like property after it's unable to collect a voluntary payment," he added.
Professional baggage
Like Flowers, most of his top staffers come to the office with professional baggage for having been fired from local superintendent posts.
Assistant superintendents Nichelle Rivers and Predonna Roberts were removed from administrative positions in recent years for the way they handled staff conflicts.
But Flowers' second in command, Harry Reynolds, who earns $90,293 a year, is perhaps best known for decisions that ultimately steered Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 to the verge of bankruptcy four years ago.
For the first time in Illinois history, the state bailed out a district and imposed its own oversight. Annual spending under Reynolds ballooned from $9 million to $15 million in just two years. A decision to rent mobile classrooms for $1,000 a day in an effort to reduce class sizes and improve instruction was among Reynolds' most expensive missteps.
But test scores declined. And some of the trailers sat empty because the schools where they were parked were closed to help balance the budget. Despite lagging scores and increased spending deficits, the board of education awarded Reynolds a $30,000 pay raise in 2003, his final year in the district. A spokeswoman with the state's teachers' retirement system couldn't confirm if Reynolds is currently collecting a pension.
The district continued to pay for the portable classrooms until this fall when the lease finally expired, according to the district's current superintendent, Sheila Harrison-Williams, who was hired by the state-imposed school finance authority. Under Harrison-Williams, the district has become financially solvent. Students in all of the district's schools have posted double-digit gains on standardized tests since she was hired.
Flowers attributes the previous firings and failings of his staff to "politics" and doesn't put much stock in them, including the cause for Reynolds' departure.
"I don't hire people based on rumors," he said. "I hire people who could get the job done."
Angela Caputo may be reached at acaputo@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5993.
The Flowers Staff
Following Charles Flowers' election to oversee the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education as superintendent, he's tapped a handful of top-tier administrators with controversial tenures as local school administrators.
They include:
Willie Mack
director of ethics and fiscal compliance
Mack's most recently was employed in Illinois as the interim superintendent of Bellwood District 88 in 2005. His year-long, $150,000 contract began in July of that year but he received $750 per day in the three months before his contract took effect, according to the Melrose Park Herald, a Sun-Times News Group publication.
He only held the job for six months but came under fire first for signing off on a portion of $310,000 worth of legal bills, most of which were accrued before he took the job.
Mack was put on administrative leave shortly thereafter. The school board didn't publicly disclose the reason why it was suspending him, but one board member said it was because of a suspected misuse of money.
Nichelle Rivers
assistant superintendent
Rivers followed Mack into the superintendency in Bellwood District 88 in 2006. She was suspended from the job 11 months later for the way she handled an administrative matter that involved a principal storing pornography on a school computer.
Predonna Roberts
assistant superintendent
She was fired from her job as a junior high principal in Naperville District 203 over staffing conflicts.
In 2001, Roberts moved to the Southland. She landed an administrative job in Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 in 2002 under Harry Reynolds' administration.
In 2006 she went to Bellwood District 88 to fill another administrative job.
Harry Reynolds
deputy superintendent
Reynolds retired from Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 in 2003 after working in the district for three years, two of which he served as superintendent.
Under his leadership, the district's spending grew to exceed revenue by $6 million. The district was left in such bad financial shape when Reynolds departed that the state legislature formed a school finance authority to step in and save the district from collapse and dissolution.
Reynolds' wife Elizabeth, who is now the superintendent of Calumet School District 132, was working in Maywood-Melrose Park District 89 at the time, where Flowers was the school board president. The two are former colleagues in Park Forest District 163.
When Flowers was elected as the regional superintendent last year, Elizabeth Reynolds threw a semi-formal victory party for him, which, at the time, was frowned upon by some school officials and parents because of her own district's financial woes.
Flowers hired Reynolds' husband soon after.
The Reynolds are no stranger to conflict. The couple relocated to Illinois after a scandal-ridden stint in the Chattanooga Public School System, according to press accounts there. Reynolds, who then went by her maiden name, Gaines, resigned from her position as assistant superintendent there after it was revealed she had secretly married the superintendent.
In his first six months on the job, the office of suburban Cook County's top school official - whose assets are frozen for failure to pay taxes - has grown to include senior staffers with track records of misusing school money and even steering a local district toward financial ruin.
Their mission, they say: to root out corruption in the 143 school districts they oversee.
Suburban Cook County Regional Supt. Charles Flowers has put school officials on notice: Get on board with his reform agenda or face the legal consequences.
"If it doesn't apply to you, don't listen to it," is Flowers' message to any superintendent who's operating aboveboard.
But the warning has struck a nerve with some Southland administrators already angered by a sharp decline in service at the office - which acts as a liaison between school districts and the state board of education - since Flowers took the post this past summer.
"Where's the corruption?" said Orland School District 135 Supt. Dennis Soustek. "The regional office of education is saying they're targeting corruption. Are they on a witch hunt for it?"
Rolling out reform
When south suburban school administrators gathered for a breakfast meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in Alsip this fall, Charles Flowers launched his reform campaign by introducing himself and his new director of ethics and fiscal compliance, Willie Mack.
That's when school officials realized the event was anything but routine.
Mack, who earns $87,900 a year, put the school officials on notice that it's his job to crack down on the region's corrupt administrators.
What type of corruption the regional superintendent's office is trying to root out is vague. Flowers said he's fielded calls about residency and homeless enrollment disputes but declined to specify what complaints he's forwarded to the Cook County state's attorney's office for investigation. A state's attorney's office spokesman declined to elaborate on any information received from the superintendent.
Mack is a familiar face among the region's administrators. He worked as the superintendent of Calumet School District 132 in the late 1990s but was forced from the job. He also briefly held the top administrative job in west suburban Bellwood District 88 in 2005 but was fired just months into his contract for suspected misuse of money, according to the Maywood Herald, a Sun-Times News Group publication.
Evergreen Park High Supt. Jim Gallagher, known for aggressively guarding District 231 from non-resident enrollment, said he thought Flowers' warning went too far.
"Nowhere in the school code does it say that the regional superintendent can get involved (in residency issues)," Gallagher said. "It's a local decision."
Reform roots
Flowers won a seat on a west suburban Maywood-Melrose Park District 89 school board for his reputation as a reformer nearly a decade ago. Initially, he led the charge to scrutinize spending. He railed against a lax attitude toward academic accountability among the administrators. And he heeded the public's advice on how to turn the situation around.
After being named the board's president two years later, however, Flowers' reputation began to spoil because he authorized frivolous spending and hired friends at salaries higher than their previous jobs, according to an analysis by the Maywood Herald.
He came under fire in 2002 for hiring eight administrators - including a new Supt. Elizabeth Reynolds - from Park Forest School District 163, where he had worked the year before as director of special education.
While the district was grappling with a $3 million budget shortfall that school year, the board approved a new laptop computer and cell phones for themselves.
Other questionable expenses revealed by an audit include $16,764 on food and snacks, $26,200 on cellular telephone bills and $30,000 for out-of-town conventions where alcohol and room service were purchased through the school district's credit card during the 2002- 03 school year while Flowers was the school board president and Elizabeth Reynolds was the superintendent.
And after buying 200 new laptop computers during that school year, 194 sat in unopened boxes in a storage room. They were found by the Oak Brook-based auditing firm PTW & Co. The district spent $277,000 on the unused equipment.
'They don't even answer the phone'
The reputation of the regional superintendent's office has suffered under Flowers' leadership, according to some Southland school administrators.
Decisions such as assigning Deputy Supt. Harry Reynolds to conduct an inspection at Calumet School District 132 - where his wife, Elizabeth, presides as superintendent - have generated criticism.
But the real frustration lies in the office's inability to answer phone calls and return messages, school officials say.
"The general feeling is that we don't know where they're at or what they're doing," District 218 Supt. John Byrne said. "They don't even answer the phone."
In District 218, for example, 60 sophomores are waiting to enroll in a geometry class, but that can't happen until certification for a new teacher is complete. Under the former regional superintendent, certification would have been done by now, Byrne said.
Flowers attributes the holdups to staffing shortages at the state board of education.
In a spartan office tucked in the corner of an aging Westchester school building, Flowers' office buzzes with activity. Teachers line up at a reception desk with questions about their certification status. Staffers dig through battered filing cabinets for answers while juggling a steady stream of phone calls.
Most of the current staff is new under Flowers, who said the office and its employees are just hitting stride.
Six months into the fiscal year, however, a budget has yet to be drawn, meaning administrators don't have a clear plan for how they'll spend the roughly $1.2 million, mostly in tax revenue, they'll receive this year.
"It continues to be a work in progress," Flowers said via e-mail in response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the financial information. "I can't provide information that does not exist."
Nonetheless, the office has managed to bulk up staff to include two new administrative assistants, both of whom are Flowers' relatives. Top-tier administrators, all of whom hold doctorate degrees, also have received pay raises - with salaries ranging between $75,244 and $100,325 - more than doubling in some cases when compared to the same positions under former Regional Supt. Bob Ingraffia. In Ingraffia's administration, for example, the office's third in command earned $55,822 per year compared with $87,901 this year.
Flower's assets were frozen for failing to pay his income tax - totaling $51,188 - in recent years, a fact that brings into question his ability to provide financial oversight, according to the Better Government Association, a watchdog group.
"If he can't manage his own finances how can he manage his office's finances?" said BGA director Jay Stewart.
Flowers told the SouthtownStar he's contesting the taxes, which accrued during his employment as a special education director in Tinley Park-based Kirby School District 146 and Park Forest District 163. He declined to elaborate on why he has such an overdue tax bill.
Whatever the reason may be, his chance for contesting a lien is likely over, according to Dan Pavlik, director of Loyola University's federal tax clinic. "The government only resorts to freezing assets like property after it's unable to collect a voluntary payment," he added.
Professional baggage
Like Flowers, most of his top staffers come to the office with professional baggage for having been fired from local superintendent posts.
Assistant superintendents Nichelle Rivers and Predonna Roberts were removed from administrative positions in recent years for the way they handled staff conflicts.
But Flowers' second in command, Harry Reynolds, who earns $90,293 a year, is perhaps best known for decisions that ultimately steered Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 to the verge of bankruptcy four years ago.
For the first time in Illinois history, the state bailed out a district and imposed its own oversight. Annual spending under Reynolds ballooned from $9 million to $15 million in just two years. A decision to rent mobile classrooms for $1,000 a day in an effort to reduce class sizes and improve instruction was among Reynolds' most expensive missteps.
But test scores declined. And some of the trailers sat empty because the schools where they were parked were closed to help balance the budget. Despite lagging scores and increased spending deficits, the board of education awarded Reynolds a $30,000 pay raise in 2003, his final year in the district. A spokeswoman with the state's teachers' retirement system couldn't confirm if Reynolds is currently collecting a pension.
The district continued to pay for the portable classrooms until this fall when the lease finally expired, according to the district's current superintendent, Sheila Harrison-Williams, who was hired by the state-imposed school finance authority. Under Harrison-Williams, the district has become financially solvent. Students in all of the district's schools have posted double-digit gains on standardized tests since she was hired.
Flowers attributes the previous firings and failings of his staff to "politics" and doesn't put much stock in them, including the cause for Reynolds' departure.
"I don't hire people based on rumors," he said. "I hire people who could get the job done."
Angela Caputo may be reached at acaputo@southtownstar.com or (708) 633-5993.
The Flowers Staff
Following Charles Flowers' election to oversee the Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education as superintendent, he's tapped a handful of top-tier administrators with controversial tenures as local school administrators.
They include:
Willie Mack
director of ethics and fiscal compliance
Mack's most recently was employed in Illinois as the interim superintendent of Bellwood District 88 in 2005. His year-long, $150,000 contract began in July of that year but he received $750 per day in the three months before his contract took effect, according to the Melrose Park Herald, a Sun-Times News Group publication.
He only held the job for six months but came under fire first for signing off on a portion of $310,000 worth of legal bills, most of which were accrued before he took the job.
Mack was put on administrative leave shortly thereafter. The school board didn't publicly disclose the reason why it was suspending him, but one board member said it was because of a suspected misuse of money.
Nichelle Rivers
assistant superintendent
Rivers followed Mack into the superintendency in Bellwood District 88 in 2006. She was suspended from the job 11 months later for the way she handled an administrative matter that involved a principal storing pornography on a school computer.
Predonna Roberts
assistant superintendent
She was fired from her job as a junior high principal in Naperville District 203 over staffing conflicts.
In 2001, Roberts moved to the Southland. She landed an administrative job in Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 in 2002 under Harry Reynolds' administration.
In 2006 she went to Bellwood District 88 to fill another administrative job.
Harry Reynolds
deputy superintendent
Reynolds retired from Hazel Crest District 152 1/2 in 2003 after working in the district for three years, two of which he served as superintendent.
Under his leadership, the district's spending grew to exceed revenue by $6 million. The district was left in such bad financial shape when Reynolds departed that the state legislature formed a school finance authority to step in and save the district from collapse and dissolution.
Reynolds' wife Elizabeth, who is now the superintendent of Calumet School District 132, was working in Maywood-Melrose Park District 89 at the time, where Flowers was the school board president. The two are former colleagues in Park Forest District 163.
When Flowers was elected as the regional superintendent last year, Elizabeth Reynolds threw a semi-formal victory party for him, which, at the time, was frowned upon by some school officials and parents because of her own district's financial woes.
Flowers hired Reynolds' husband soon after.
The Reynolds are no stranger to conflict. The couple relocated to Illinois after a scandal-ridden stint in the Chattanooga Public School System, according to press accounts there. Reynolds, who then went by her maiden name, Gaines, resigned from her position as assistant superintendent there after it was revealed she had secretly married the superintendent.
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