Lake Forest Group Seeks Legal Guidance Against District 67 School Board Members, Superintendent

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Michael Beacham and a group of his fellow Lake Forest residents concerned over Superintendent Harry Griffith and District 67 Board of Education’s handling of a Deer Path Middle School principal’s resignation plan to meet Wednesday to interview lawyers to determine their next move.

after new information came out Nov. 17 in a , which included sexually graphic text messages, voicemails and a lewd photo sent to a 22-year-old student who was an intern with the

Beacham reached out to parents at the Nov. 21 community meeting called by the board, asking for contact information as a means of mobilizing a group.

Tuesday, after speaking to the board and again asking for the resignations of Griffith and board members Jeff Pinderski, Julia Wold, and Laurie Rose, whose terms date back to Steinert’s 2009 conviction, Beacham said it’s “unclear how to deal with a board and superintendent who need to resign, but won’t. We need an attorney to guide us.”

Beacham said the meeting would be used to pool resources, knowledge and contacts. He indicated the group’s size would be more than 10 people.

“We’re trying to determine how to take this forward,” Beacham said.

In his remarks to the board, Beacham focused his attention less on Steinert’s actions and more on how the board and Griffith responded based on a redacted police report, which did not include the information detailed in the Tribune story. The board and Griffith remained silent during the comment period.

Beacham questioned Griffith’s contention that he did not know the seriousness of Steinert’s texts to the woman.

“You knew criminal charges were pending and yet you claim you did not know how serious this matter was?” Beacham asked. “Even after your board member found him a criminal attorney? You claim Mr. Steinert told you that he had been ‘flirting’ and you believed that flirting was a criminal offense? That defies all logic, Dr. Griffith.”

Beacham pointed to two attorneys, Sally McDonald and Laurie Rose, who were on the board and available to Griffith at the time. He noted McDonald’s specialty is labor law, and “according to her own resume, she counsels her clients on issues of employee discipline and termination,” Beacham said.

“Surely if you and the rest of the board were not aware that flirtatious remarks do not land you in handcuffs at the police station,” Beacham said, adding that McDonald or Rose would have known that “further investigation by the district was warranted.”

Two other speakers, Bob Ely and Walt Nielsen, also asked for the resignations of Griffith and the board members.

Nielsen, who said he has lived in Lake Forest for 25 years, said, “Sadly, it’s time to clean house again.”

Nielsen said he disagreed with the notion that since Griffith was retiring in June, there was nothing to be gained by his resignation now.

“There is zero basis to letting time run off the clock,” Nielsen said.

He asked the board to engage in a third-party investigation that runs concurrently with the Illinois Board of Education.

Ely said he could give the board “the benefit of doubt,” and that he believed they did not act with malicious intent.

“But you have brought shame and embarrassment to the school district,” he said, and in comparing the situation to other work environments, he added, “those people resign. I don’t understand why you don’t do that.”

Resident Eric Herman asked the school board to suspend Griffith while an investigation is performed. He said the loss of trust brought on by the action of school board members who were present in 2009 has made their input into the selection of a new superintendent lack credibility.

“What highly qualified candidate would come to a house with a black cloud hanging over it?” he asked. “The board needs to expand its search to candidates who have the skill set to rebuild a school district from this type of situation.”

• Need to look at a past story on the issue? View Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Patch’s topic page.