By Igor Studenkov | For the Bugle
The Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution launching an investigation that one of their own harassed a Niles West High School coach to the point where he was compelled to quit.
Tony Konsewicz previously served as girls’ basketball coach. During the May 2 special board meeting, he alleged that then-board president Mark Sproat, whose daughter was on the team, spread rumors that he was about to be fired, creating a stressful work environment and undermining his reputation. Several parents came to the meeting to speak on his behalf, testifying to his integrity and dedication to the students.
The May 2 meeting also saw the swearing in of three new board members elected during the April 4 municipal election. In their first action as a board, they chose new officers, electing board member David Ko as a new president. Though it all, the new and current board members emphasized that they were committed to ethical practices, and they were willing to let the investigation take its course.
Konsewicz said that harassment has been ongoing since the 2015-2016 season. He alleged that a number of people had asked him about rumors that he was about to be fired – rumors that, he said, originated with Sproat.
“It’s rather embarrassing to hear people tell you you’re going to be fired from what you love to do it,” Kousewicz said. “It also makes your job of coaching more difficult when your credibility is being publicly questioned.”
He resigned in March. During the April 4 meeting, many parents and students showed up demanding answers. The district also received five ethics complaints. While the coach himself originally intended to stay quiet about it, but he changed his mind after the April 27 closed session meeting didn’t yield any results.
“Let me be clear – the reason why I resigned as the basketball coach was because of harassment instigated by my Niles West classmate of the Class of ’84 – Mark Sproat,” Kousewicz said.
Several parents who attended the May 2 meeting spoke in coach’s defense, urging the board to take action.
Terry Wallace, a district parent, said that she already had concerns about Sproat’s conduct, and this only deepened them.
“You don’t represent this district in a professional manner, nor according to the code you swore to uphold,” she said. “My preference will be for you, quite frankly, to resign. I think you’re doing a disservice to the community. I ask new board members and board members that are going to [continue serving] from here on to choose wisely who’s going to be president.”
Mike Galanopoulos, another district parent, felt that Sproat went beyond being a supportive parent and abused his power.
“There was a failure, and I’m going to ask the board to consider their options, to put a good leadership in place,” he said. “And I implore the new board members that you do your due diligence and find out exactly what happened and what needs to be corrected.”
Barb Pabst, a Niles West alumni and now a parent, had equally harsh words.
“The board members who cannot separate their two roles [as parents and board members] shouldn’t be leading this group,” she said. “They shouldn’t be on the board.”
Joan Moy, another parent, shared similar sentiments.
“I had a hard time understanding that this man of integrity can be knocked down so hard that he had to raise a white flag,” she said. “If there’s a bully in [the playground], you take that a bully and make him apologize. So what do we do as aboard? Take that bully and make him apologize.”
Moy said she understood wanting to support her child, but she strongly felt that children should be allowed to face obstacles and fail – otherwise, they wouldn’t learn anything.
In its last action, the old board moved to launch an investigation.
“The community’s trust is especially to our success as elected leaders of our schools,” they said in an official statement. “We understand the ethical commitments we made in becoming members of the board, and our duty is to execute our roles in accordance with our oath of office and the Code of Conduct.”
The resolution called for the board to hire Robert E Swain, of Arlington Heights based Hodges, Liozzi, Eisenhammer Roddick & Kohn law firm, as an independent investigator. It specified that he is to be granted access to all relevant documents, and that, once report is compiled, it would be shared with everybody who filed the complaints and the board as a whole.
Under District 219’s Uniform Grievance Procedure, once Swain completes his investigation, Dr. Steven Isoye, the district superintendent, will decide what to do next. Sproat would have a right to appeal the decision before the board, which will decide whether to uphold the decision, reverse it or ask Isoye for more information.
With that, the old board was dissolved, and the newly elected members were sworn in.
During the April 2017, three seats were in play. While four candidates originally ran, but Skokie resident Virginia Camacho dropped out on March 22, allowing incumbent Joseph Novick, and new candidates Naema Abraham and Richard Evonitz to win by default.
The new board’s first action was to elect new officers. Evonitz nominated board member David Ko, and, with no other nominations, the board voted 6-0 to make it official.
Board Vice President Brian Nowak, who served as the board vice president under Sproat, abstained. He also abstained from all other votes save for the vote to elect Novick as the new vice president, which was unanimous.
When asked why, he told the Bugle that he was “a man of [his] word,” and declined to elaborate any further.
Kousewicz told the Bugle that he hopes the independent investigation will bring results – not just for his sake, but the sake of the District 219 community as a whole.
“I just hope that, if they find improprieties, the board will do the community justice,” he said.