District 64 considers addition to conflict of interest policy

At least one official on the Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Board of Education is torn over whether to add additional language to the board’s conflict of interest policy that would encourage anyone with a familial connection to a district employee to recuse themselves from decisions that may benefit their family and, by extension, themselves.

Board President Anthony Borrelli brought the issue up for discussion at a special board meeting on Feb. 13. He said the impetus for the proposed language stems from the fact that three individuals running for four open seats on the board this April are married to District 64 teachers.

The board is slated to vote on a proposed addition to the body’s conflict of interest policy at its Feb. 21 meeting.

Candidate Michael Schaab is married to Caroline Schaab, a fourth-grade teacher at Field School; candidate Norman Dziedzic is the husband of Emerson Middle School art teacher Sonja Dziedzic; and candidate Greg Bublitz is married to a special education teacher at Carpenter School, Kristen Bublitz. The salaries and benefits of all three teachers are covered under a contract that is negotiated by board members, administrators and the teachers union, and salary costs comprise the largest portion of the district’s expenses.

A board member’s marriage to a district employee is not in and of itself a conflict of interest, Borrelli said, but elected officials are generally advised to abstain from discussing or voting on any contracts that may affect their spouses or other relatives to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

Borrelli said the district’s attorney suggested further clarifying the board’s policies by adding a sentence that stipulates that even when permitted by state law to vote on or participate in discussions of an issue that may affect their spouses or family members, officials are “strongly encouraged” to recuse themselves from those deliberations.

Board Vice President Scott Zimmerman said he understood “all the logic” of the recommended addition, but worried a future board could be rendered useless on a matter if a majority of its members are married to district employees. If the public elects a board member who is married to a teacher and are fully apprised of that fact, then the public must believe that this official is capable of making a good judgment call, he said.

Board member Tom Sotos said he is “super torn by this.” He said he’d have a hard time believing that an elected official with a spouse working in the district wouldn’t “have some sort of softness in their heart” for their employment contract leaning one way or another “because it’s going to, no matter how you cut it, benefit their lives.”

“If the public knows the individuals who may be running have a spouse that’s a teacher in district and they vote for them, then who are we to say,” said board secretary Vicki Lee. She noted that the recommended language had “no teeth” to actually force a board member to recuse themselves from a discussion or vote.

Borelli said the proposed addition is a reminder to board members to voluntarily analyze situations for potential conflicts of interest. No board member can force another to pull out of a discussion, he said.

“There is no teeth in it, and it’s that way for a purpose,” he said. “This board is intended to function on consensus and consensus only.”

Sotos said he hadn’t made up his mind which way he’d vote on the issue by the time the board ended their discussion Feb. 13.

“I need every minute from now until the day you need us to vote on this to really sit with myself in a quiet place and try to figure out how to move forward,” he said.

Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.