Cook County School District 130 has parted ways with its superintendent, who had been on paid administrative leave since Aug. 1.
Board members for the elementary school district that serves more than 4,000 students in Blue Island, Alsip, Crestwood and Robbins voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a separation agreement with Superintendent Tina Halliman, who had served as superintendent of the 11-school district since May 2014.
“We wish Tina well, but the school district as a whole needs to move in a positive direction, so we’re going to work hard to find somebody who can work well with the staff already in place for a bright future,” Board President Jason Slattery said Thursday.
Halliman, who grew up in the south suburbs and attended school in District 130, returned to work three separate stints in the district totaling approximately eight years.
Before holding the district’s top job, she had served as its administrator for pupil personnel services from 2006 to 2010 and its crisis intervention coordinator from 1996 to 1997, personnel records show.
Late last July, as Halliman was about to embark on her fourth full school year as superintendent, the District 130 board voted to place her on paid administrative leave and hired a special counsel to investigate her, meeting minutes show.
The move came a few months after a near-complete turnover of the school board, which seated five new members in late April 2017. Slattery, who was elected president of the reorganized board, said he and his colleagues initiated an investigation of Halliman after speaking with people who had questions about her leadership and the direction the district was headed.
Matt Welch, an attorney for the district, said the board hired a special counsel to perform the investigation of Halliman after “certain allegations” about her came to light, so as to avoid any potential conflict of interest.
Halliman has not returned requests for comment on the matter.
On Aug. 1, the day her paid leave was set to begin, Slattery sent a brief memo to district staff announcing that Halliman was “currently out of the office on leave,” and that Assistant Superintendent Colleen McKay would be performing Halliman’s duties in her absence.
The special meeting on Wednesday where Halliman’s separation agreement was approved lasted less than 20 minutes and was not attended by any members of the public. The board convened at 6:30 p.m., immediately went into executive session and emerged about 15 minutes later to approve the separation with Halliman.
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There was no public discussion on the separation agreement and board members declined to answer questions about their decision afterward.
Welch said administrative charges against Halliman had been prepared and that the district was preparing to hold a disciplinary hearing for her when her attorney approached district officials about entertaining a possible separation agreement.
Halliman’s contract, which ran through June 2020, states that the board may terminate it early by mutual agreement.
“As the district looked at the expense of putting on a hearing and any appeals into the circuit court, combined with the certainty in outcome of a settlement and the expediency of the district in being able to move on and bring in a successor superintendent, they determined it was in the best interest of the district to resolve this matter quickly so district could move forward,” Welch said.
At the time of her departure from the district, Halliman was making a base salary of at least $195,700, which the district continued to pay her for the nearly six months she was out on leave.
According to the separation agreement, Halliman will be paid for the rest of the school year and for 51 accrued vacation days. She also will continue to receive health insurance until June 30.
Welch said that McKay would stay on as acting superintendent for the time being, but that no final decision had been made regarding Halliman’s permanent successor.
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