📣 SPECIAL BOARD MEETING — THURSDAY JUNE 5TH AT 7:00 PM
Dr. Sepiol will present the findings of the independent review of the CNC program. This is the moment the community has been waiting for. Your presence matters.
📍 Cafenasium — The Joseph Sears School, 542 Abbotsford Road, Kenilworth, IL | Open to the Public | Public Comment Available
Send Your Email to the Board Before the Meeting →Six special education teachers have left the Comprehensive Needs Program in four years. Federal laws have been violated. Parents have been lied to. Administrators got raises. It's time for our community to demand accountability.
The Comprehensive Needs Program (CNC) serves the most vulnerable students at Joseph Sears School — children ages 8–13 with complex special needs. For four years, this program has been in crisis while administrators collected six-figure salaries, dismissed parent concerns, and told the community everything was fine.
Six lead certified special education teachers have departed since June 2022 — including three mid-year departures. Every departure was blamed on individual circumstances. Every departure had the same root cause: administrative failure.
FOIA records confirm the district operated the CNC classroom illegally for 167 days without filing a required state deviation form. IEP services are not being delivered. Students are being illegally segregated. Aides are pulled from the classroom to substitute elsewhere — violating student IEPs.
Parents were promised a "seamless transition" and told "nothing will change." Both were lies. When parents raised concerns, they were dismissed for years. Aides were instructed to stop talking to parents. One parent's microphone was turned off at a board meeting.
At the April 27, 2026 board meeting — where CNC accountability was expected — the board unanimously approved 4.5% raises for every administrator responsible for this crisis, including the Director of Student Services who directly oversees the failed program.
In May 2026, parents documented that Director De La Cruz is actively repeating the same failed hiring strategy — offering new candidates salaries below CPS rates with promises of "lunch hour and coaching" income that the actual job demands make impossible. The district is planning for the next resignation before the year even begins.
After years of advocacy, hiring legal counsel, and being repeatedly dismissed by administration, a CNC family has been forced to place their child in an out-of-district school for 2026–2027. District 38 is now funding that placement. This is the direct financial cost of four years of administrative failure.
Every event below is documented through parent correspondence, public board meetings, FOIA records, and published news coverage. This is not a coincidence. This is a pattern.
Several of these violations are now confirmed by official district records obtained through FOIA — not just alleged by parents.
Two documented exit statements independently confirm the same pattern of administrative failure — unsustainable workload, zero support, and a culture of fear.
💰 The Most Damning Line in This Survey:
"The administration was able to save over $100,000 by replacing us with new educators."
This teacher — who received a Proficient evaluation and whose classroom other teachers were sent to observe for best practices — had their contract non-renewed. The stated reason: they didn't fit the principal's "vision." The real result: $100,000 in savings by cycling out experienced staff. This is not a coincidence. This is a pattern — and it costs our students every time.
⚠️ What We Know Exists But Have Not Yet Received:
The teachers' union filed approximately 20 pages of written complaints documenting school-wide issues related to special education services across classrooms at Joseph Sears School. These complaints were provided to administration. A FOIA request was filed May 22, 2026 to obtain these records. If administration received 20 pages of documented teacher concerns about special education and failed to act — this was not negligence. This was a choice.
Kenilworth District 38 is funded almost entirely by local property taxes. These are public salaries — paid by you — for administrators who have presided over four years of failure and were rewarded with raises on April 27, 2026.
The district spends $558 per student on the superintendent alone. The most vulnerable students in the district went months without a certified lead teacher. An aide supporting a student with feeding, toileting, and aggressive outburst management was offered $17/hour. This is where the priorities of this administration are revealed.
Parents have filed multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain records the administration refuses to voluntarily share. Under Illinois law, the district must respond within 5 business days.
| Date Filed | What Was Requested | Status | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 27, 2026 | Age-range deviation compliance records (23 Ill. Admin. Code 226.730) | ✅ RECEIVED | Confirmed 167-day illegal operation and missing teacher signature |
| May 22, 2026 | All teacher and staff exit interviews from 2023–2026 | ⏳ PENDING | Will confirm or expand the documented culture of fear pattern |
| May 22, 2026 | Union complaints re: special education (~20 pages documented by teachers) | ⏳ PENDING | Potentially the most damning evidence — did admin receive warnings and ignore them? |
| May 22, 2026 | TrueNorth/NSSED complaints re: IEP minute compliance (also FOIA'd TrueNorth directly) | ⏳ PENDING | Will confirm whether IEP service violations were reported externally |
| May 22, 2026 | Dr. Helfand / "The Learning Framework" — contracts, expenditures, ethics compliance | ⏳ PENDING | Potential conflict of interest — is district money going to principal's outside enterprise? |
| May 2026 | Administrator salary records — De La Cruz, Helfand, Perlman, McBride | ⏳ PENDING | Public has right to know exact salaries of public employees overseeing this failure |
| June 4, 2026 | Independent Evaluative Review — Dr. Sepiol presents findings at Special Board Meeting. Report shared with Superintendent Donegan on June 3 and sent to Board and parents upon receipt. Individual meetings with Dr. Sepiol offered to parents on June 1, 2, or 3 (voluntary, in-person or Zoom). | 📅 SCHEDULED | This is the independent review parents fought for. The community will be watching closely to ensure findings are transparent, comprehensive, and not whitewashed. FOIA requests for the full report and raw data are anticipated. |
| Planned | 5Essentials school climate report for Sears | 📋 PLANNED | Will reveal staff morale, culture, and safety data from the state's own school survey |
All FOIA responses will be published here as they are received. The community has a right to see this information.
We are not asking for the impossible. We are asking for what these children have always deserved — and what the law already requires.
This issue affects every family in Kenilworth. These are our neighbors' children — the most vulnerable students in our community. Here is how every resident can make a difference.
The most impactful thing you can do right now. The board needs to hear that this crisis matters to the entire community — not just CNC families. The email is already written. Just add your name and send.
Send the Email →You don't need to speak. A packed room of community members sends a powerful message. Board meetings are public — any resident can attend. If you want to speak, sign up for public comment when you arrive.
View Board Calendar →Every Kenilworth family deserves to know what is happening in their school district. Share this page on Nextdoor, neighborhood groups, email chains, and with friends. The more people who know, the more pressure the board feels to act.
Any Illinois resident — not just parents — can file a Freedom of Information Act request. The district must respond within 5 business days. Request administrator salaries, teacher exit interviews, or IEP compliance records. The more people asking, the harder it is to ignore.
Send FOIA Request →The Record North Shore has already covered this crisis. The more community voices they hear — not just CNC parents — the more likely they are to continue covering it and apply public pressure. Share your perspective as a community member.
School board members are elected by the community. The current board approved raises for administrators responsible for four years of failure. When board seats are next on the ballot, Kenilworth voters have the power to elect members who will hold administration accountable.
Learn About the Board →These six students cannot advocate for themselves. Their families have spent years doing it — and have been dismissed, silenced, and worn down. The only thing that changes the calculus for a school board is when the entire community makes clear that this is unacceptable. You don't need a child in the CNC to care about this. You just need to be a neighbor.
Send the Email Now →The board needs to hear from every member of this community — not just the parents of CNC students. Add your name and send a message directly to the board and administration.
Add your name below — the rest is ready to go.
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