Dolton West Elementary District 148 Superintendent Kevin Nohelty, who has come under fire for a salary increase that led to him making more than $450,000 a year, has retired.
The school board met Sunday to appoint an interim superintendent, Shelia Harrison-Williams, who started with the district on Monday. Harrison-Williams previously was superintendent of Hazel Crest District 152.5 and during that time received the National Alliance of Black School Educators Superintendent of the Year award.
In his retirement letter sent Thursday, Nohelty blamed certain board members for making his job difficult and targeting him with “harassment and bullying.”
“The board president and certain board members have undertaken a smear campaign against me, riddled with baseless allegations, innuendo, and repeated threats of investigation and discharge,” the letter said.
Nohelty said at one point, a board member pointed out his being a white man in a majority Black district as a reason he had to leave.
Nohelty said he chose to retire after board President Shalonda Randle declined his offer to buy out his contract. The district did not respond to questions about Harrison-William’s salary as interim superintendent, but the agenda for Sunday’s special meeting directed the district’s attorney to develop her contract.
In March, the district board approved a new contract that had Nohelty making an additional $30,000 each of the next two years. The board attributed its decision to boost Nohelty’s six-figure salary to difficulty in finding his replacement, as Nohelty stayed on past his contract’s end date in June 2022.
“This was not something premeditated, preplanned or orchestrated for money purposes,” board member Larry Lawrence said at that meeting.
In addition to his $450,000 salary, District 148 paid Nohelty an extra $87,000 in fiscal year 2024 in retirement enhancements and other benefits.
Under the updated contract, Nohelty was obligated to mentor his selected successor for one year. The district did not immediately respond to questions surrounding Nohelty’s retirement.
Cook County court records show that Nohelty was charged by Illinois State Police in March 2024 with driving while under the influence of alcohol on Interstate 90 in Schaumburg Township. He pleaded guilty in November and was fined $500 and sentenced to one year of court supervision, which would be up in October, records show.
Some south and southwest suburban school districts have come under fire in past years for bloating salaries for administrators. Former Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Pedro Martinez’s yearly salary was $340,000.
At Calumet City District 155, former Superintendent Troy Paraday made $432,000, the most of any superintendent in Illinois, until he was fired in 2019 for misconduct including allegations he padded his pay without authorization and misrepresenting the district’s financial status.
Paraday was fired less than a week before he was scheduled to retire and had calculated that the district owed him almost $1.8 million for three unused personal days, 532 unused sick days and 350 unused vacation days multiplied by his nearly $2,000 per diem rate.
The fiscal year 2024 base salary for District 155’s current superintendent, Joseph Zotto, was about $186,000, according to the district. He made an additional $66,000 in annuities, retirement enhancements and other benefits.
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Dolton School District 149 Superintendent Maureen White’s base salary was $275,000 during the same year, with added benefits boosting her pay to about $339,000, according to the district.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to clarify Dolton Elementary School District 148 Superintendent Kevin Nohelty notified the school board on Aug. 14 that he was retiring immediately.