In a chaotic and often disruptive four-hour meeting Wednesday night, the new Park Forest-Chicago Heights Elementary District 163 Board voted 4-3 to replace Superintendent Caletha White with her predecessor, Joyce Carmine.
Newly elected board members Margaret McDannel and Kim Elmore-Perkins voted for the change in administration, as did Christina Dupee and Jacqueline Jordan. Former board President Walter Mosby, Allison McCray and Takesha Howard wanted to retain White.
Under state law, Carmine, who retired in 2017 and draws a pension of nearly $300,000, can only work for 100 days a year and will be paid $1,200 each day or $120,000 for the year.
Howard said she was seeing “hatred” among board members at the meeting, attended by nearly 90 adults and children crammed into the board room.
“I have no idea of what we are here for,” Howard said.
When those comments were met with applause, newly elected Park Forest Village Trustee Randall White, a former District 163 Board member not related to the now former superintendent, said “you can clap if you want to, but evil was done to this lady.”
White, who is also the pastor of a church, distributed two sheets of “facts” stating relatives of board members allegedly were either disciplined or fired, and of how a family member of Carmine’s profited from contracts under her administration. Later, when told his three-minute time limit for comment from the audience was over, White replied loudly he did not “intend to listen to none of your rules,” and continued to speak, finally concluding with “shame on you all. Now I’m done.”
Former board member Judy Hawthorne, who was defeated in the April election, said the move was “a witch hunt” and became highly emotional when she compared the firing of White to the lynching of a runaway slave.
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Numerous members of the audience took advantage of the three-minute rule to laud White, saying she brought talent to the school and changed lives of both students and teachers.
Shortly after 9 p.m. the board went into executive session, returning at 10:55 p.m. to close out the meeting with the vote to dismiss White.
As the board voted, Village Trustee White began taking a video while walking from one board member to another, later posting the video on his Facebook account. When board member Jordan complained she felt threatened by this, White can be heard telling her to “shut up. I am an elected official.”
Jerry Shnay is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.