Limited transparency concerns overshadow West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 approved budget and board resignation

West Harvey-Dixmoor School District 147 approved what leadership called “a balanced budget,” according to Interim Superintendent Jerry Jordan, PhD. But it came with a short budget hearing.

According to the 36-page budget document, the district began the fiscal year with nearly $34.4 million dollars, which includes $20.3 million in tax revenue. Expenditures total to $19.9 million, leaving an anticipated balance of $14.5 million by June 2025. 

“It’s the exact budget that we were presented and has been published for the last 30 days. I just want that to be understood for clarity sake,” said board secretary Mabel Chapman. 

Despite an electronic budget notice, the budget was only available for public viewing at the office; it was not available electronically on the district’s website. No visuals nor physical copies were provided during the meeting. The budget hearing that evening, designed to solicit public feedback and field inquiries, was three minutes long.

But that behavior isn’t exclusive to WHD 147. It’s a common governmental practice throughout the south suburbs, from the municipal level to school districts. But it reifies longstanding concerns about transparency and open government throughout the Southland.

Of the district’s annual spending, this year they will offer a robust professional development calendar that “isn’t just for cadres” according to Assistant Superintendent Camille Robinson. This was a well received improvement as cadres, or substitute teachers, expressed the need for more support in the classroom in August. The budget includes seven additional paid days, four holidays and three sick days, for cadres.

Limited business in regular session

Four minutes into the regular meeting, board president Michael Smith, Sr. announced a closed session, discussing litigation, contract negotiations, or employment disciplinary actions. 

The closed sessions can extend for an unknown period of time, leaving the audience lounging around, unclear as to how long a meeting will be. Some attendees, fatigued from the wait, exit prior to adjournment.

When asked whether he could share the types of topics that are discussed during these closed sessions, Smith, Sr. referred to the Open Meetings Act closed session clause permitting executive session and suggested that “after a certain time” the meeting minutes would become available.

According to the OMA, the board is required to review closed session minutes every six months and determine whether confidentiality is still necessary or if the minutes can be made available for public inspection. 

WHD 147 hasn’t performed that review at any point in the past nine months, an HWH review of meeting agendas posted on the district’s website found.

A new strategic plan

Assistant Superintendent Camille Robinson presented the district’s strategic plan for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, which includes 17 goals within four areas: academic achievement, safe and orderly environment, community collaboration, and efficient and effective supportive operations. 

The strategic plan was not made available for public review, as Robinson stated it would need board approval. That means parents won’t be able to review the plan until after it’s already been voted on. 

“So we have worked really hard on these goals. We are going to start generating some actions under each one of these goals,” Robinson said, “and things that we need to do to meet these goals over the year.” 

Board secretary Chapman pointed out a goal that stood out to her: “We’ll achieve a 25 percent increase in the number of students scoring at or above the 50th percentile on the STAR Early literacy, reading, and math assessments.” 

Robinson suggests that this goal is based on the fact that “We have a lot of students that are not meeting just the literacy assessment. So, we have a large number of our students still scoring in the early literacy, which is like pre-primary. So, this is why this goal was generated. Because we want to get all of our students to the level that they are on a reading assessment.”

Board vacancy

Member Ronnie Lee made an announcement that effective October 1, 2024, he will resign from his position as a district board member. In his letter addressed to the board, Lee mentioned that he “will be relocating to the state of Mississippi to take over as a pastor” in a church in Lamar, Mississippi. Lee currently serves as pastor at Nehemiah Christian Center Ministries in Harvey.

As there will be a vacant position, all interested parties “who is not an employee, but is a resident of West Harvey [Dixmoor] 147 [School] District [boundaries] are eligible to send a letter of interest addressed to the board president,” Chapman said during the meeting.

Lee was elected in 2023 to a four-year term. The appointee, which the board has to make within 90 days, according to state municipal law, will serve the remainder of Lee’s term through 2027.

This comes as the school district is in election season. Three seats will be on the ballot in 2025. The terms will be six years. Election packets are available at the district’s administrative office located at 191 W. 155th Place in Harvey.

If residents are interested in running in the general election, the first day to begin circulating petitions was August 20, and candidates can begin filing petitions from November 12 through 18.

The next regular board meeting is scheduled for tonight at 7:00p.m. According to the meeting agenda, the board is slated to appoint Lee’s replacement.