North Cook News

Outgoing Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Superintendent Eric Olson expressed his desire to only support educators for open school board positions.

Olson, who is leaving the school district after the current school year, made the comments on a conference call with more than 20 other people. One person on the call, who requested anonymity, discussed the situation with North Cook News.

On the PTO call, Olson discussed his differences with the school board that resulted in his departure.

“He responded to that by basically saying that he didn't think that noneducators made good board members, especially when it came to making decisions around curriculum,” the source said. “He advocated for the other side, by the way, because three out of four of the Democratic slate that's been endorsed by (Illinois Gov. J.B.) Pritzker and the local Democratic Party are educators.”

Those candidates include Dr. Denise Pearl, Monica Milligan, Rachel Georgakis and Matthew Doubleday. Those candidates are also being supported by a newly created local group, Spotlight.

“Spotlight is an anonymous organization that was set up specifically to endorse them, it looks like, in early March,” the source said. “And it looks like they must be getting some money from the Democrats or something because they came up with a some snazzy website all of a sudden and I understand that it's run by some former League of Women Voters vice presidents.”

Since the Democrats began pouring money into the race, residents have seen a plethora of yard signs throughout the community in support of those candidates.

“He also said at the end (of the call) 'call me if you want the juicy tidbits,’” the source said.

“He was also willing to use his taxpayer office to have a follow-up after the call so anyone could call him just to find out the details....That's disrespectful to the board.”

Board members that are non-educators were also on the call.

Discipline for Olson has been rumored due to the open politicking.

After initially saying local school board races were nonpartisan, the Democrats and Pritzker trumpeted their support earlier this year. Pritzker gave $500,000 out of his pocket for such races.

“We are grateful for the generosity and support from all of our contributors and volunteers across the state and country, including Governor Pritzker, which promotes the election of Democrats in every corner of our state,” Democrat spokesperson Kiera Ellis said, according to Prairie State Wire.

Olson resigned in late January.

“Despite our irreconcilable differences, I am thankful for the opportunity to proudly serve the staff and families of the Park Ridge-Niles community,” Olson said at the time of his resignation. “I’ve formed many lasting relationships, and I will always champion the students and staff of District 64. There is still much work to be done to finish out the rest of the school year and to prepare for the next one.”

Olson was first appointed to take over the school in March 2019.