Will Co. (ECWd) –
Today I received my Freedom of Information request from District 210 for a copy of the resignation letter submitted by Kevin Molloy. Not sure why it took them so long to get it to me since the local media got copies the day after he resigned but regardless, we now have it.
There has to be a common watering hole for public officials because once again the mantra found in Molloy’s resignation letter is the same we hear from so many others. You dare question those in power and you’re labeled with trying to destroy the school. Frankly, after 9 months of that garbage from the College of DuPage we are sick of it. It’s a false narrative and it’s time public officials wake up and realize the people are awake and we are going to exercise our 1st Amendment right. Demanding answers from our public officials does not mean people want to destroy their government.
Molloy’s letter takes no responsibility for the $500,000,000.00 in bond debt the taxpayers are faced with. He makes no mention of the illegal process used that established a no bid, no RFP, Day Care Center, nor did he take any responsibility for taxpayer dollars being used to train dogs instead of children. The day prior to his resignation he called people animals and then claimed he knew nothing about the dog training facility even though he signed the agreement with the Park District outlining that very facility three years earlier.
It is clear that Molloy and many others in public office don’t understand that when We The People start asking tough questions and demanding accountability to their decisions, or lack of, it’s not to tear anything down. It’s the process of fixing it and sadly these officials refuse to accept they allowed things to be broken under their watch.
I know in the few short months we have been looking into things there has been a clear effort to circumvent the FOIA process as records prove what is going on. Molloy claimed in his resignation, “it was never for one second, as this group would have you think, about politics.” Sadly for Molloy, there is zero evidence that the local group holding them accountable has done so because of politics. They have done so because people like Molloy have failed at their post, which is to represent the taxpayer, not the Administration!
The great thing about our FOI law is that when you can expose the records, they are what they are. There is no politics, outside of the paper trail that will always point to politic and political favors or abuse. The politics we witnessed with District 210 is the protection of what many will argue is a political structure of people like Wyllie who manipulated things to their gain, and I am sure others. All while the board did nothing to protect the taxpayers from his wrongdoing. Refusal to hold any of those people accountable is what the citizens are fed up with.
Had Molloy asked tough question, like those former board member Christopher McFadden asked, this district might not be in the mess it’s in.
No Mr. Molloy, this is not about tearing down the district. This is about peeling back the onion of malfeasance and keep peeling it back no matter how bad the stink, and it’s bad. Until you get to the bottom of who is responsible for all these illegal actions and hold them accountable, your District will never regain it’s footing of trust by your taxpayers.
He goes on crying about how tough things are for him and claims he was “forced” to resign. “With the property tax freeze on the horizon and the pension shift looming, this was our only
choice to get where we needed to be. It was this decision that ultimately forced my resignation.” The decision he is referring to was to close the school.
His own statement tells us plenty. He was worried about a property tax freeze on the horizon. That means he had no concern for the spending before, because they could simply tax the people more, which is what has happen. The pension shift looming, go cry me a river. The pension shift discussion has been going on for two years and even if it were to happen, it would be phased in over several years so that lame excuse won’t work either.
How sad that he felt his only choice was to close a school instead of take action to hold people accountable, take action to recover funds from illegal activity, or simply listen to the wealth of knowledge found in the citizens of the District that had solutions he had yet to recognize.
It appears Molloy will go down in the history books as yet another public official who claims they were there for the children, yet ended up doing more harm than good by allowing Administrators to run the show and failing to understand he answers to the people.
It’s high time school board members in this state take a stand against these out of control administrations who are bleeding the taxpayers on every front. Yes, there might be some good ones out there but by far the bad have them beat.
If you don’t think that is the problem then simply ask a teacher to define what they think the biggest financial issue is in their districts. Most have told us the out of control Administrators who do nothing but make teachers lives harder.
Wake up and take back you school and dont let the wining crybabies distract the real mission of ensuring sound fiscally responsible local government.
For a man that cites the word “love” at least seven times in his resignation letter I can only ask, if your love was so great why didn’t you take a single step to hold anyone accountable for the illegal actions that took place while you were a board member?
Mr. Molloy, good riddance!
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10 Comments
LW
Posted at 17:16h, 08 FebruaryAunt Nancy’s Daycare had a 10 year contract with LW 210 beginning in May 2008. Why was it necessary for Nancy’s Daycare to sign a new 10 year contract with LWSD 210 in 2013 before Dr. Wyllie retired?
tony kraut
Posted at 07:35h, 05 Februaryanother POS bureaucrat!!!!
Taxpayer
Posted at 08:36h, 04 FebruaryAt the end of the day, none of this would have been exposed, no one would have been “forced” to resign, there would be no lawsuit if only the board and superintendent didn’t pull a 5.3 million dollar savings number out of thin air for closing North. You see, there is no financial analysis. There isn’t any comparative study. It’s a completely unjustified number that anyone in charge HAS YET TO EXPLAIN. What is that? Where did they come up with it, over a few drinks at Gatos?
Meanwhile the families from “The Square” and the Tinley and Mokena outcasts have been marginalized as animals (fairly predictable) and a “small group” causing trouble by not only the school board but this disdain for “some” North parents was also expressed by the Mayor of New Lenox? I guess he must have a lot of skin in the game. Who is the real villain here? They are trying to make it look like North Families are just a bunch of disgruntled fools.
I want the board to know that I and many others were extremely disappoint but okay with the closing of LWN. It was shocking! We weren’t happy about it but we trusted that these highly qualified people were making a wise, fair and impartial decision. I kept going to board meetings or watching them. I looked on the district website. I thought that at SOME POINT we would see the NUMBERS. They just aren’t there and the fact that you are taking possibly illegal actions trying to hide them is a dang shame. Your actions speak louder than your words.
We ARE Lincoln-way. We need positive proactive leadership with a can-do attitude. We need creative solutions, not just a bunch of paper and blame pushers that buried a huge problem until it exploded into this because of a fear of perceptions. Get over yourselves, get moving. Accept help of the many intelligent and innovative people in the LW community. Be honest and do good work. Accept responsibility, acknowledge the mistakes you have made in this process and let’s get a move on before YOU completely destroy the Lw reputation.
Sad for our district
Posted at 04:08h, 04 FebruaryFinally someone has shut down his poor me commentary on his Facebook page and he has been exposed for the user that he is. He used this position to promote his business and personal interests. Then when it is turned around on him he is angry and starts calling the people he represents “animals” in an interview and cries poor me. He is rude and condescending to speakers during the public comment portion of board meetings and he doesn’t even try to pretend that he is interested in what the taxpaying public has to say about how their hard earned money is being spent. Unfortunately, the decision on who replaces him and Mr. McFadden lies with those who remain on the board. Can they be trusted to do the right thing? Or will it be more of the Lincoln-Way way until April of 2017? A superintendent that says we are not a wealthy district yet our former superintendent has the largest education pension in Illinois. An assistant superintendent that allowed skyrocketing water bills to go on for years while he looked at toilets and in the basement and never called in professionals when they were clearly needed. Inside deals and mismanaged finances. We need to rewrite the Lincoln-Way way into one that will make this district proud again.
Shoaf
Posted at 18:08h, 03 FebruaryI can’t help but shake may head when reading Dr. Molloy’s resignation letter. I was at the board meeting that was held at LincolnWay East over the summer. This meeting was the one before the Board made the announcement to close North(I am a parent of a LWN student). At this meeting, Dr. Molloy said that in two to five years the district would have to close a second school and was adamant about it. As he did this, superintendent Tingley shook his head in disagreement. How could he say this, yet in his resignation letter state that the district will be so much better in two to five years. I don’t mean to be petty, but this is part of the reason why the taxpayers are so irritated with Dr. Molloy. I don’t think that it is necessary to attack this man as much as he claims he has been, but at least he should be consistent in what he says. I know that these inconsistencies in statements are what frustrates me and makes me really distrust this school board. I am not on Facebook or any other social media bashing the school board. I am a taxpayer of LincolnWay. I think all taxpayers of LW should be outraged. Yes, your school may not be closing, but your money was misused to build a school only to close it and now your children, if this applies to you, are also going to get shuffled around. So much corruption it is disgusting, so much so that I find myself commenting online when I never have before.. I just hope that someone is held accountable. Has anyone even thought of the effects of this on the property values. My neighbor plans on moving and I only hope that he does not have a difficult time selling his home. Who would want to move to a town where you know beforehand that your tax dollars are going to fund anything the board deems acceptable, which appears to be almost anything according to past expenditures. LWN was a selling point to attract future homeowners and now it will be a detourant as a result of it closing. Thank you Kirk for all the information. Sincerely, A LWN parent who accepts that her child will still get a LincolnWay education at LWE, just disgruntled with the corruption
LW Teacher
Posted at 16:41h, 03 FebruaryNailed it! This is exactly what LW is thinking. As a teacher in the district, I want to remind everyone that Tingley was a teacher himself only a few years ago…. What training does he have to guide this district? He was appointed by Wylie and Eddy with no job posting and no interviews done. He was giving a huge salary with no experience or education. He is leading one of the biggest districts in the area, and is clueless. We as teachers are stuck. There is nothing we can do, and our board that is supposed to protect us is falling apart. A swift leadership change is the only thing that could possible save us. Give us a new and experienced superintendent. Give us an experienced business superintendent. Let’s make rational changes.
It amazing that our business superintendent still has a job. Years of mismanaged finances under his supervision, and now a claim of his hands were tied. Ridiculous. But that’s what you get when you promote a teacher to assistant superintendent. The same thing has happened with Tingley. Clueless people appointed to positions that are over their heads.
Parent
Posted at 19:37h, 04 FebruarySadly, I am sure you remember your union rep being okay with all of this! Why don’t you and ALL the 210 teachers band together and have a vote of no confidence or a good old fashion protest demanding resignations? Majority of our teachers are wonderful at ALL the schools it sucks to see any of you lose jobs.
Jim
Posted at 16:37h, 03 FebruaryAllow me to finish for taxpayer….and on and on and on….this is a disgrace what is going on here the longer this goes on the more stuff comes out. Keep up the good work
Taxpayer
Posted at 14:50h, 03 FebruaryKirk, Thank you for writing this piece. As a taxpayer of the community, I am so disheartended by what has happened. Your next story might be on “who is really in charge in District 210”. It appears that the board does not know that the superintendent reports to them. Our superintendent cannot provide anyone with actual costs that influcenced their decision to close Lincoln-Way North. It seems that there may be a bit of cronyism in the south suburubs. The superintendents wife teaches at a school where the principal is the wife of the mayor of the town where Lincoln Way West and Central are lcoated. Lastly, the school they are closing has the higest percentage of studnets that walk to school and with the redistribtion all of those students will need to be bussed – they have not even thought through the cost of that scenario. I could go on and on,
Ally
Posted at 12:13h, 03 FebruaryAnother article that is spot on.