Conflict for District 115 Board Candidate Steve Reimer

Steve Reimer is a candidate on the ballot for the Lake Forest High School District 115 School Board election next Tuesday.  Recently I, among others, have raised questions regarding whether or not Steve Reimer is eligible to serve on the District 115 School Board because of a conflict of interest.  And conversations with both Mr. Reimer and the Lake Forest Caucus have failed to alleviate our concerns.

The Lake Forest High School Board of Education Conflict of Interest Policy is clear:  “No Board of Education member shall have a beneficial interest directly or indirectly in any contract, work, or business of the District unless permitted by State law.”   State law is equally clear.  Section 10-9 of the Illinois School Code states that a board member shall not be interested, either directly or indirectly, in his or her own name, or in the name of another person, in any contract, work, or business of the school district, or in any sales or purchases of the school district. Similar provisions are found in the Public Officer Prohibited Activities Act.

According to District 67 check ledgers and publicly available documents filed with the Illinois State Board of Education, Lake Forest Schools paid Reimer’s wife, Deborahanne Reimer, $32,239 as an independent contractor for Lake Forest High School during 2011-12.  Checks for approximately $4,000 each month have been written to her in 2012-13.

To be clear, no one is questioning Mr. Reimer’s credentials or qualifications to serve on the District 115 Board– he should be commended for volunteering to serve.  Nor is anyone challenging Mrs. Reimer’s laudable and valuable work battling substance abuse in our school communities.  Pure and simple, this is not a matter of politics; it is a matter of ethics. At this time in the history of our schools, ethics must be the foremost consideration in every aspect of the School Board and its work.

As Student Assistance Program (SAP) Coordinator at the high school, Mrs. Reimer is not merely a volunteer but an active staff member – she appears in the online LFHS staff directory and the LFHS Student Services Department directory, she has a LFHS email address and phone number, and she is shown as a staff member on the LEAD and SpeakUp website as the LFHS SAP Coordinator.  Oddly, while Mrs. Reimer’s formal title is Tri-District SAP Coordinator, she is not listed or referred to anywhere on the District 67 or District 65 websites.

In addition to being SAP Coordinator at the Lake Forest High School she also serves on the LEAD Board of Directors which pays Lake Forest District 67 to support Reimer’s SAP position at the High School.  It’s unclear why school leadership would set up such a complicated arrangement.  That arrangement also seems to create a separate conflict of interest.

History has shown that conflicts of interest generally start out small and innocent enough but over time grow until the parties involved become immune or blind to the nature of the conflicts that seem clear to more neutral observers.   When conflicts of interest and ethical breaches are uncovered, they can present serious challenges to the community’s trust in the governance process and often generate unfortunate accusations damaging a Board’s credibility.  Considering the recent history of our schools, we should be ever mindful as we move forward to err on the side of transparent ethical conduct.   Our community has suffered enough in recent years and deserves better.

According to Steve Reimer and the Lake Forest Caucus, they feel that there is no conflict of interest because they claim that Mrs. Reimer’s pay is supported by federal and local grants and not by Lake Forest Schools.  And they also claim that no contract exists between Mrs. Reimer and District 115. Yet in the check ledgers (See October 2012 Invoices Paid Page 10) the checks to her reflect payments for contract services.  In response to allegations of conflict of interest Mr. Reimer said that he would simply recuse himself from a vote concerning his wife’s position.

The responses from Mr. Reimer and the Lake Forest Caucus miss the point.  The mechanics of how Mrs. Reimer gets paid are not relevant and, merely abstaining from voting does not alone cure a statutory conflict of interest. If a conflict exists, it does not make any difference if the contract is fair or even favorable to the district, or if it was awarded pursuant to a public bid.

The heart of the matter is that through Mrs. Reimer’s work, Mr. Reimer has a beneficial interest in a contract in which she is compensated for providing services to District 115, which is a clear and direct violation of Board Policy and State law.  And, if elected, he would be in a position to influence the District’s oversight of her position.  The Conflict of Interest Policy and State laws are designed to ensure that no board member would find themselves in such a position in the first place.

Fiduciary responsibility is a serious matter and no one should begin school board service with legitimate concerns and lingering questions.  It seems shortsighted to not acknowledge the issue head on and resolve it, particularly in light of recent issues in our school board oversight and governance. That being said, there seem to be two reasonable choices at this time.  If Mr. Reimer is elected to the LFHS Board of Education Mrs. Reimer could immediately resign her position prior to her husband taking the oath of office in late April.  Conversely, if Mrs. Reimer wishes to continue her contract work with Lake Forest Schools, Mr. Reimer should remove himself from the election immediately.