Union School Dist. Superintendent

[Doc]

Not a bad deal for a school district of 110 students from Joliet and New Lenox. Hope he cleans house.

From the Southtown Star: "Rebecca Warren, wife of board member Homer Warren, was hired Sept. 22 for the job at $10 per hour, District 81 Supt. Barb Littlejohn said. The SouthtownStar reported this month that school board President John LaRocca had his wife and three daughters on the district payroll and frequently hired his two sons to do maintenance and repairs. His wife, Patty LaRocca, is a full-time lunchroom manager and part-time bus driver, and earns more than any teacher in the district at a salary of $58,950. His son, Sam, was recently appointed to fill a vacancy on the seven-member school board." Let me know if any jobs are open!

New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann was hired as the new superintendent in Union School District 81 following a brief special board meeting Saturday morning.

After two other candidates turned the job down, Baldermann — who holds a superintendent’s certificate but has never served in that capacity — was approved on a 4-to-2 vote, with one board member abstaining.

Baldermann, who retired as Chicago Ridge police chief in April 2010, served two years as president of the board of education in New Lenox School District 122, worked occasionally as a substitute teacher and became mayor in 2007. He replaces Barb Littlejohn, who is retiring at the end of June after serving the district for over 30 years.

He said he will be given a three-year contract at an annual salary of $127,000. The one-school district serves 110 students from Joliet and New Lenox.

Union school board president John LaRocca is not concerned about Baldermann’s experience level.

“He’s a good man. He will do just as good for the school as he has for the village of New Lenox,” he said.

He wants the new superintendent to start “right away.”

LaRocca said he chose Baldermann because he thought he would move the school forward and get the students’’grades up.”

Baldermann said he intends to do just that.

District 81 takes in a small portion of New Lenox and most students in that area do not attend Union School — a fact that has always bothered Baldermann, and one he said he plans to change.

“I want people to say with pride that they go to Union School. I don’t want my name attached to something I am not proud of,””he said.“I know it will be a challenge, and I love a challenge. Every kid deserves a great education.””

The board interviewed five candidates for the job, and Baldermann was the fifth choice, board members said.

“I want a candidate who can move the district forward,” board member Pat Sweeney said. He expressed concern about the selection process and felt that Baldermann — who was fifth on the board’s list of five final candidates –— was being “rammed” down their throats.

Board member Linda Brunner abstained in the vote.

“I have confidence in Baldermann and I like him, but I didn’t like the process,” she said.

The board was not aware that Mr. LaRocca was negotiating with Baldermann.”

At a previous board meeting, the board authorized LaRocca to negotiate with the top two candidates, both of whom turned it down for other jobs. LaRocca said he had “conversations” with Baldermann and discussed his appointment with some board members verbally or by email.

“I can’t say how I did it or why,” LaRocca said.“We had no board meetings about it. I just asked Baldermann if he was interested. We were definitely pressed for time.”

[Double o seven]

Sounds like a shady deal. The board did not know who was being interviewed?

[disgraceful]

When will the people in this state wake up? This is a perfect example of why we are financially ruined as a state! This guy got a 70,000 bump in salary right before he retired from the CRPD. That pension fund had been warned by actuaries that it was only 47% funded, yet that pension board, with a deputy on it (who also got a huge increase at the same time) went ahead with it anyway; no care about the funding the pension for younger officers. DISGRACEFUL!

Too bad we can't get objective reporting anymore. So how many pensions is this guy thinking he's going to get from us?

And why is that Larocca guy still a board member? What is wrong with people?

[disgraceful]

And the 3-year contract should be handy. When is the New Lenox superintendent retiring and having the assistant superintendent taking over? Will her position be open then?

[hold on]

Lets not forget that Mr Balderman is on a disability pension for a back injury. He could not receive a regular pension until he was 50, which he is not. So he could not be an administrator at a police department but, can be an administrator at a school district. From the way it was explained in the newspaper when he left Chi Ridge he is getting about 144k a year tax free on the disability pension. Just lucky I guess.

[Horse feathers]

Where did he teach for two years? Pretty sure that is one of the requirements to be a superintendent. Does he have a masters?

[Joke]

This is a joke.
The Patch is eating out of his hands. No objectivity from Michael Sewell.
The patriot is just as bad. Very sad.

[overtaxed]

$125,000.00 a year for a district of 110 students? WTH!!!

[stop complaining]

Stop complaining everyone. Does anyone in this town really think they are Man or Woman enough to go to a Village Meeting and ask the Mayor how He can continually rip off the good people of Illinois? Think about it.
He is Disabled and had to retire from the Police department where he collects 6 figures a year. Now he is able to do the same damn job and collect 6 figures a year. Very very sad day for Illinois.
I will be at the meeting demanding to know WTF.

[disgraceful]

Lafferty seems to have a bias for Baldermann. She left out referencing his pension padding of 70,000 from the Chicago Ridge police department. Remember, he was also trying to get the former administrator a deal by allowing him to retire, then come back as a consultant at practically the same salary.

So he retires in his 40s as a police chief (administrator) due to a claim of an injury, spikes his salary while the police pension fund had been warned it was only 47% funded, and now can work as administrator for a one-school building, 110 student district at 127,000. Why do they even need this position? This is nothing more than an abuse and waste of taxpayer money for a part-time job.

And all this for a guy who has never been a teacher. And wait for the next move in the game in three years. Can you afford it?

What a lack of integrity. What a sorry state.

[Found]

Interesting find
How much money is Baldermann making on the triple play concerts?
Page 10 or so on sponsorship opportunities
http://www.lockportchamber.com/nl/april2011ne...

[yee haw]

Educators run in the family!

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/lagrange/archiv...

[Porter]

THIS IS LOCKPORT'S FORUM, WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN UNION SCHOOL OR NEW LENOX. WHY ARE YOU WRITING ON HERE? GO TO THE JOLIET FORUM.`

[What]

This is the New Lenox forum lol. Sometimes threads appear in multiple towns. There is no reason to get your shorts in a wad. Don't look here if it bothers you.

[What]

Porter wrote:

THIS IS LOCKPORT'S FORUM, WE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN UNION SCHOOL OR NEW LENOX. WHY ARE YOU WRITING ON HERE? GO TO THE JOLIET FORUM.`

Ok, I just checked whether or not it's appearing in both forums and it is. It was originally posted in New Lenox and is appearing in both New Lenox and Lockport forums. It really isn't a big deal since you can just scroll past it. If you have that big of a problem take it up with topix. The posters have no control over threads appearing in multiple towns. Go to the top of your page and change your location to New Lenox and you will see it's in our forum as well. This is pretty funny that your panties are in such a wad over this.

[What]

FYI it is in Frankfort and Mokena's forums as well.

[banking]

Here's the new-age political powerhouses that ran this piece of crap right into the ground... probably by loaning friends money who had no intentions on paying

(current and former board members)

Don Hartz from Hartz Construction
William Beavers - crooked politician
Al Baldermann
Jack Zausa - Zausa Homes... google his name
Burt Odelson - biggest 2 faced contradicting lawyer there is in Chicago.
The list goes on and on

It's no wonder all of these people do whatever they want in New Lenox

New City Bank in Chicago became the 13th U.S. bank failure in 2012, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday. The bank was closed by Illinois regulators but the FDIC was unable to find another bank to take over operations so it will mail insured depositors their checks directly. At the end of 2011, New City Bank had $71.2 million in assets and $72.4 million in deposits. The bank is also the second one to fail in Illinois this year.

[hold on]

It was just a few short months ago that this district was all over the headlines for the school board president hiring all his family members. His wife I believe was the lunch lady, making more than the teachers. Real quality values. And so now Balderman makes his way into another gravy train to suck as much as he can out. He gets a three contract without ever working one day. Maybe he should give back all the extra money he spiked his pension with in Chi Ridge and go back to work. He was after all the Chief, an administrator not an officer working the streets. If he can sit in an office for a school district, he can sit in an office for the police department. I hope many people wake up and see what a self serving SOB this guy is.
If you read this Tim, you are a big part of the problem why people dont trust public employees and pension plans, and I cant say that I blame them from your example.

[overtaxed]

The mayor is making a name for himself. Appearing on national television, his name plastered all over everything. I'm not sure what his future ambitions are but I've always thought he had his eyes on the superintendents position in Dist. 122. By that time he will have some "experience" to add to his resume and move right in. That would give him and his wife an annual income of over $500,000 not including their new business venture, wouldn't it? Wow, not bad for a former cop and a former teacher. Ahhh, the American dream.....

[Unincorporated]

The pension system in Illnoise will bust out long before Baldy retires and needs the money to live on. I don't wish him bad things but this conduct is a great example of Illnoise cronyism and pension padding. Just think, Obama brought this exact mentality to the White House.