Board member Mark Sproat has filed a lawsuit against the District 219 Board of Education according to discussion at the board meeting Feb. 13, where he was not present. Named in the lawsuit are: Superintendent Dr. Steven Isoye, the board of education, and West’s female complaint manager Amy Tucker. A court date is set for May 30, 2018.

A history of complaints have been lodged against the former board president, leading to varsity Girls Basketball coach Anthony Konsewicz‘s resignation. The board and union recently reached a settlement, agreeing to pay Konsewicz $35,264. In the wake of Konsewicz’s grievance, Sproat was issued a “Letter of Directive” by the board, addressing his abuse of power to benefit his children.

“Last week, the board was served notice of a lawsuit filed by Mr. Sproat against the board, in which he seeks to overturn our grievance decision,” board member Rich Evonitz said. “The board followed the grievance procedures upon the advice of our legal professionals, who continue to assert the actions we took in response to the grievances filed were consistent with the board’s policies and procedures.”

Evonitz was not the only member to speak against Sproat’s actions. Board member Brian Novak also had a statement prepared.

“Significant district resources, in the form of administrative time and taxpayer money, [have] been spent and now a lawsuit has been filed against us, by one of us,” Brian Novak said. “I, for one, am tired of this board’s collective integrity being challenged based on the behavior of one of us, and I am unwilling to continue allowing our agenda to be hijacked by one of our own members who has clearly violated his oath of office.”

The Board unanimously passed a motion to have North Cook Regional Office of Education investigate whether or not Sproat violated his oath of office.

Attorneys for both Sproat and the Board of Education did not immediately respond to requests for statements.