Iron Fist Of Education
A 'Blueprint For The Prosecution'

Sauk Village schools superintendent Thomas Ryan was sent to prison for eight years thanks to the Daily Southtown, convicted of ripping off the children of a poor school district - ripping them off big time. The Cook County state's attorney called the Southtown's reporting "a blueprint for the prosecution."

The district was Ryan's personal cash box, and he surrounded himself with people willing to look the other way as he ransacked the district's coffers to pay for his daughters' college tuition, tickets to sporting events, meals and other personal expenses. No one questioned him lest they be subjected to severe intimidation by the blustering bully.

That was until Linda Lutton arrived on the scene. Lutton, a reporter whose tenacity is unmatched, wasn't afraid. She endured the threats and the bullying - at one point, prosecutors warned Lutton that Ryan may harm her. Assisted by reporter Kati Phillips, the duo outlined in detail how the crooked Ryan operated.

Prosecutors joined the hunt and soon they were hauling bundles of District 168 cash from Ryan's Orland Park home, cash that should have gone for schoolbooks, lunches, pencils and paper in Sauk Village. Ryan was charged and convicted. But Phillips, operating solo after Lutton left the paper, continued uncovering other examples of malfeasance perpetrated in the district under Ryan's watch.

'Reverse Robin Hood' Faces Justice

Witness says Superintendent Ryan threatened to break his legs

Schools chief stole from poor to give to friends

Published in the Daily Southtown, Aug. 24, 2005

By Kati Phillips

Dubbed a "reverse Robin Hood" who took money from poor schoolchildren to lavish on himself, family and friends, prosecutors Tuesday also revealed Thomas Ryan to be a malicious intimidator who threatened to "break legs" and "kick asses."

A rumpled Ryan, who slept behind bars in his gray suit, appeared in court Tuesday morning on theft and witness tampering felony charges that stem from a Daily Southtown investigation.

He looked nothing like the strong-willed superintendent of schools who ruled Sauk Village's classrooms and teachers with an "iron fist," all while secretly pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Cook County's second-poorest school district, prosecutors claim.

"(This) is the worst case of financial fraud by a public official I have seen in my nearly nine years as state's attorney," Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said.

As investigators closed in on Ryan in recent weeks, he threatened to break the legs of one Community Consolidated School District 168 employee if he "ever went against him," prosecutors said.

At the same time, Ryan directed other employees to falsify paperwork to cover up the superintendent's pilfering, prosecutors said.

The probe is "far from over," but Ryan is "so out of control" the state brought charges now, assistant state's attorney Sandra Navarro said.

Prosecutors feared for witness' safety. Officers confiscated an asp, collapsible metal club that is illegal in Illinois, and a gun from Ryan's Orland Park home.

As the school year begins, the 16-year superintendent of School District 168 will remain behind bars.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Panichi denied bail on Tuesday and ordered Ryan to have no contact with any district employee.

Ryan, who turned himself in on Monday, has agreed to resign, Devine said. District officials had not received a letter of resignation Tuesday afternoon.

"His days of dictatorship are over," Navarro said. "Justice will now prevail."Ryan is charged with theft of more than $100,000, which is a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

In addition, he is charged with intimidation, communication with a witness, harassment of a witness, obstruction of justice, bribery and official misconduct.

"We in no way concede to the allegations," said Ryan's attorney, Patrick Cotter, who, as a former assistant U.S. attorney in New York, prosecuted mob boss John Gotti.

The state's attorney's investigation began at the end of May, after a tip by the Illinois State Board of Education and a series of Daily Southtown stories detailing Ryan's questionable spending, prosecutors said.

When investigators raided Ryan's Orland Park home last week, they recovered an "unexplainable" $730,000 in cash that will be sought as restitution for the district, prosecutors said.

"The magnitude of this public corruption will only be matched by the arrogance of the man who committed these acts," Navarro said.

Ryan is accused of taking roughly $70,000 to pay for the college education of his three daughters between 1997 and 2005. He's also accused of pilfering an account that was intended to pay teachers to tutor underachieving children after school.

"He also bullied subordinates to doctor paperwork to cloak his financial hijinks," Devine said.

District funds also were squandered by Ryan when he awarded his friend and co-worker Ed Bernacki a $72,000 lighting contract without going through the bidding process. Ryan is accused of obstructing justice by instructing two witnesses to create invoices to support those payments, the charges state.

Ryan also gave his daughters nearly $2,000 in graduation gifts, paid himself $1,000 for tickets to Chicago Blackhawk hockey tickets and treated his friends to fancy dinners and drinks, prosecutors said, all on the dime of a district that cannot afford a band program.

"He also milked the milk fund, stole library fees and made off with book fees," Devine said. "The financial havoc that he wrought in the district will be felt for years."

A total of 21 witnesses have testified before the grand jury since May, and many others have been interviewed or come forward, prosecutors said.

Witnesses uniformly described Ryan as a physically imposing man who bullied them into cooperating in cover-ups for his far-reaching schemes.

Kickbacks were demanded from employees who earned overtime pay or bonuses, prosecutors said.

"Witnesses have described (Ryan) as acting like God, Hitler or Mike Ditka, who he prides himself after," Navarro said.

Nowhere was Ryan's obsession with Ditka more apparent than his office, which looks like a shrine to himself, Ditka and Notre Dame, prosecutors said.

"Ryan spent thousands of dollars of district funds on framing supplies," Navarro said. "Of the perhaps 50 photos on the wall of exquisite autographed photography and framing, there exists no connection whatsoever to (District) 168."

Ryan, 53, has long been a controversial leader in District 168 for his zero-tolerance discipline policy and his refusal to grant fee waivers or to register poor, homeless and foster children.

At the same time, he has been lauded for pulling the district out of a deficit and building up $13 million in operating fund reserves.

No school board members or district officials came out to support Ryan in court Tuesday, where he showed no emotion and kept his head bowed or toward the judge.

Reached on vacation in Indiana, board member Alex Sustek said he was not surprised by the accusations of intimidation.

"He had that power over people," he said. "I'm glad justice prevailed."

Acting Supt. George Kunkel released a statement from the school board that commended the state's attorney's office.

"We will continue to support and cooperate with the investigation to be assured that all persons identified by the state's attorney's office as being involved in any illegal activities relating to our school district are held accountable," it read.

Many of the questionable expenses were flagged in a routine audit of the 2003-04 school year, yet the scope of the state's attorney's accusations surprised Bloom Township School Treasurer Rob Grossi.

"From the time financial concerns surfaced through the audit process, this office believed the issues were serious enough to recommend a more detailed examination of the district's finances," Grossi said. "While concerns grew regarding the financial dealings of the district, no one at the time could have envisioned the depth and scope of these alleged improprieties and their impact on the Sauk Village community."

Patricia Nix-Hodes, an attorney for the Chicago Coalition of the Homeless, attended Ryan's hearing. The coalition has represented four families in cases against the district, she said.

"It's great to finally see some accountability for the parents and children in the district," she said. "More still needs to be done (for homeless students), but this is a great first step."

Brenda Core, who is suing District 168 for prohibiting her son from attending his eighth-grade graduation, also attended the hearing.

She is glad to see him out of the district.

"Maybe now the kids will get what they need," she said.

Unusual Payments In Sauk Village Schools Audit

FIRST STORY: Published in the Daily Southtown, March 20, 2005

By Linda Lutton

Money from Sauk Village elementary school district accounts was used to pay for more than books and teachers last year.

A $6,030 check was cut to pay college tuition for the superintendent's daughter, according to audit records obtained by the Daily Southtown.

Thomas E. Ryan, longtime superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 168, also instructed checks be cut from the district's account for:

- Cabinets in his Orland Park home.

- Insurance for his family's automobiles.

- Makeup and a two-piece bathing suit.

Thousands of dollars in reimbursements Ryan was not entitled to under his contract, according to audit records.

Records also indicate payments were made to multiple universities on behalf of Ryan 's children, and payments were made directly to his children from school district activity accounts "for reasons seemingly unrelated to the purpose of the account," Bloom Township School Treasurer Rob Grossi reported in a letter to District 168 Board members last September.

The Daily Southtown obtained Grossi's letter and documents related to the audit through the Freedom of Information Act.

Grossi's office ordered the customary annual audit for the 2003-04 school year. It was expanded when irregularities were found.

Auditors also discovered the district may have handed a no-bid, $72,000 contract -- in violation of state law -- to E&M Associates. The president of that company, Edward Bernacki, is employed by the district as buildings and grounds manager. Bernacki's wife, Mary, is secretary of the company, according to state records.

The bulk of the auditors' concerns, numbering more than a dozen, involved improper payments or compensation directly to the superintendent or on his behalf.

Questioned by the Daily Southtown about the audit, state education officials say they have opened an investigation. The local school board, however, has since extended Ryan 's contract to 2010 and given him a $15,327 raise.

In two detailed letters to district management, auditors described a system lacking basic fiscal controls in which "no one in a position above the superintendent is currently reviewing and approving payments."

Auditors found that no one was keeping track of Ryan 's vacation time, and payroll staff did not have access to his contract and thus could not determine whether payments he directed to be issued to himself were appropriate. In a number of cases, auditors found Ryan ordered payments to himself or on his behalf with no documentation other than a Post-It note.

Auditors could not reconcile what Ryan had been paid during the 2003-04 school year -- a total of $199,492, according to state records -- with his contract.

In a March 2 telephone interview about the audit, Ryan said no improper payments were made intentionally.

"We've never had anything like this in 15 years ... I'm known for the impeccable records that we have. In this case, there were some things that were done a little sloppily. ... I had a new business person, payroll person. I hired someone who I expected would give me some red flags if things came up," Ryan said. "That didn't happen."

Ryan said the district has adopted all recommendations made by auditors, including creation of a finance committee made up of board members who will review payments. The district reissued earnings statements for Ryan and Bernacki, showing increased compensation for both over what was originally reported on their W-2 forms, auditors found.

Ryan, at District 168's helm since 1989, reimbursed the district $13,574 in August after auditors raised questions about irregularities.

An experienced business official

Ryan has been a controversial leader.

His hard-line stance on student expulsions, residency issues, treatment of homeless students and waivers of fees for low-income students have led to lawsuits against the district and admonishment from state education officials.

But the head of the three-school, 1,800-student district in the southeast corner of Cook County also has a reputation as a shrewd school business official who has been able to pull two school districts off the financial watch list and keep Sauk Village schools' books balanced for a dozen years, even as surrounding districts tumble into debt.

Ryan represents the south suburban Cook County region on the governing board of the Illinois Association of School Administrators, a statewide professional organization, and serves as treasurer of the organization's political action committee. He is currently running for president of IASA's governing board.

IASA executive director Walter Warfield said the audit would have no immediate effect on that election, which is scheduled for April.

"Charges that are made and comments and allegations made against any of the superintendents are just that until they're checked out," said Warfield.

Warfield said his signature as well as Ryan 's are needed to withdraw money from the political action committee's accounts.

Ryan is also a member of a task force named last year by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to advise the governor on changes to the structure of the state board of education.

Ryan has extensive experience as a school business official. Before becoming superintendent in Sauk Village 15 years ago, Ryan worked as the business manager in Posen-Robbins School District 1431/2. During the early 1980s, he worked on finance issues for the Cook County Regional Office of Education. He acts as business manager for Sauk Village schools.

In a two-page response to auditors' findings, Ryan characterized most of the irregularities as inadvertent mistakes.

In a written response to questions posed by the Daily Southtown, Ryan said he was unaware that a state requirement that school districts obtain sealed bids for jobs worth more than $10,000 applies to projects paid for via private grant money. Ryan indicated the district "saved approximately $40,000 on the lighting project" by giving it to buildings and grounds manager Ed Bernacki.

Ryan told the Daily Southtown he also did not know he should not have made college tuition payments for his daughters directly from Sauk Village school funds.

"That was my money," Ryan said in a phone interview.

The $6,030 tuition, paid to Purdue University, was in lieu of unused vacation days the district owed him, Ryan said.

Asked whether he's ordered similar payments in the past, Ryan answered, "I could have."

ISBE looking into actions

The Illinois State Board of Education has begun investigating.

"We are taking this very seriously," said Becky Watts, spokeswoman for the state board, who also said Illinois Schools Supt. Randy Dunn is aware of the audit. "Based on the findings of that investigation, we'll take whatever action is appropriate."

Watts said state officials received a copy of the audit Nov. 9 but only recently began to review it. She said state officials will examine the audit and previous District 168 audits, which also cite payments made to outside entities on behalf of employees and miscoded compensation to employees.

According to Grossi, auditors went back two years in some cases to verify whether activities found in the 2003-04 audit occurred earlier, and they spent significantly more time on District 168's audit than is typical.

But in his September letter, Grossi told board members, "It is ... my understanding that the auditors presented recommendations that would have resulted in a more detailed review of the past financial activity of the district. I recommend that the board of education consider those recommendations."

Instead, in January, less than six months after being apprised of the audit's findings, District 168 board members voted unanimously to give Ryan a new five-year contract and a salary increase -- even though his previous contract was not set to expire until 2009. The contract approved by board members in January grants him a base salary of $183,020 -- a 9 percent raise.

None of the seven District 168 board members would answer questions posed by the Daily Southtown.

Board President Louise Morales referred questions to the district's lawyer. Two other board members referred questions to Ryan .

"He is our board spokesman," board member Frances Hollaway said.

Last fall, District 168 formed a finance committee made up of the board president, vice president and secretary. Auditors recommended that the finance committee "review and approve payments made by the district. This review should take place before checks are signed and distributed. Under no circumstances should checks be issued by the district either to or on behalf of management without full, proper approval of the finance committee."

It's unclear whether finance committee members interpret their job that way.

Committee reports at board meetings have been brief and focused on the district's 2005-06 budget, not on oversight of payments. The finance committee has met four times since being formed last fall, according to Ryan , who said some meetings were canceled due to the hospitalization of a committee member.

Around the same time the finance committee was formed, the board passed a measure extending the terms of its officers -- the only members who sit on that committee -- from one year to two years. That measure takes effect after April school board elections.

Ryan said he considers the audit history.

"It was all handled here. There is nothing to go any further with," Ryan said.

Asked how board members reacted to the audit findings, Ryan said, "I think they understand that everybody's entitled to a mistake."

School Chief Used District Money To Pay Daughter's Tuition

SECOND STORY: Published in the Daily Southtown, April 24, 2005

By Linda Lutton

Thirteen. That's the number of checks written out of Sauk Village elementary school funds to pay college tuition for the superintendent's children.

Thomas E. Ryan, longtime head of Community Consolidated School District 168, ordered a total of $68,580 paid to three universities during the past eight years to cover his daughters' college tuition, the Daily Southtown has found.

The 13 checks were made out to "I S U," "P U" or "I W U."

All but three were drawn in the amount of $6,030. On two checks, the names of Ryan 's daughters and school ID numbers were handwritten in the memo line. On others, Social Security numbers matching Ryan 's daughters are printed on the back.

The Daily Southtown obtained copies of the 13 checks through Freedom of Information Act requests filed with the Bloom Township treasurer's office, which is the custodian of most school funds for District 168 and 12 other districts.

Last month, the Southtown revealed that a school district check in the amount of $6,030, payable to "P U" and endorsed by Purdue University, was used to pay tuition for one of Ryan 's daughters.

That payment was found in an audit of District 168 funds for the 2003-04 school year.

Auditors indicated there were multiple instances "in which substantial checks were issued to vendors on the Superintendent's behalf," and noted the money was not treated as taxable income to the superintendent, as required by the Internal Revenue Service.

But the auditors did not indicate how many payments had been made to universities, the total cost to the district or how far back the practice dated, largely because their review was confined to the 2003-04 school year.

The checks obtained by the Southtown show the use district checks to pay for his children's tuition is a long-standing practice for the superintendent .

Ryan has not denied the checks were made on his behalf. He has said the payments constitute compensation for unused vacation days.

But the audit concluded "no one appears to be tracking the Superintendent 's vacation time. In the absence of itemized, current records, it is extremely difficult for employees of the District or the Board to know how much vacation time has been used and/or purchased ... and how much is still outstanding."

Ryan has not responded to multiple requests from the Southtown that he specify how many sick and vacation days he's accumulated.

Auditors cited multiple improper payments to Ryan , among them reimbursement for insurance on his family's automobiles, cabinets for his Orland Park home, and make-up and a bathing suit. He also received thousands of dollars in medical reimbursements he was not entitled to, auditors found.

Ryan repaid $13,575 to the district in August, after the payments were caught.

In addition, the district handed a $72,297 no-bid contract to an employee, buildings and grounds manager Ed Bernacki, under Ryan 's watch.

The 13 checks identified by the Daily Southtown, which date back to 1997, were prepared with only initials in the payee line rather than the university's full name. The checks were endorsed by Purdue University, where Jane Ryan graduated last year; Illinois Wesleyan University, where Rosemary Ryan graduated in 2001; and Illinois State University, where records show Annie Katherine Ryan is currently a student.

The Daily Southtown traced all three names to Supt. Thomas Ryan's address on Narcissus Lane in Orland Park.

During the 1999-2000 school year, $18,090 was paid from District 168 funds to universities on Ryan 's behalf. During 2000-01, $12,060 went to colleges on his behalf.

"How much vacation time does he get?" said Carolyn Turner, whose grandson is in sixth grade at Rickover Junior High School. "Our kids can't even go on field trips. They can't have sports because there's no funds available. They don't have music or art no more.

"We're busting our rears to send our granddaughter to college, and this guy ... We're sending his daughters there? Not fair. It's not fair."

Asked to explain why payments were made from district funds to the three universities, Ryan responded in writing that "the payments made originated from unused vacation time pursuant to my contract."

"In August, 2004, I was informed that this was not the manner in which this payment should be handled," Ryan wrote. "Therefore, the monies for the years in question were reimbursed to the district in the correct manner as the auditor suggested."

Bloom Township School Treasurer Rob Grossi confirmed that Ryan paid back $6,030 to the district on Sept. 9. That amount was then re-issued to Ryan through payroll accounts the same day -- allowing the money to be reported as taxable income.Grossi said his office does not have the authority or information needed to determine whether Ryan was entitled to the payments. District 168 board members are responsible for approval of all district payments.

Other school business officials say Ryan , who began his administrative career as a business manager, should have known that unused vacation day payments constitute taxable income and that taxable compensation must be run through payroll accounts.

"My immediate reaction is that a school business official should know that," said David Wood, chief financial and legal officer for schools in Bloomington, Ill., and a former director of operations for the Illinois State Board of Education.

"While I haven't seen the transactions or any of the details, it would appear to at least raise some questions," Wood said.

Ryan's contract does not indicate that payments for his unused vacation days can be made to anyone other than himself or his estate.

Ryan acts as both superintendent and business manager of the three-school, 1,800-student Sauk Village school district, which he has led since 1989. Tax records indicate he was paid $243,204 in 2004.

While his superintendency has generated controversy over discipline issues and the treatment of low-income and homeless children, he is well-regarded for his business savvy and is credited with pulling Sauk Village schools out of the red.

Ryan represents the southern Cook County region on the governing board of the Illinois Association for School Administrators and is running for president of that professional organization in an April 27 internal election. The group represents the state's nearly 900 superintendents.

The Illinois State Board of Education launched an investigation into auditors' findings in March. That investigation is still under way, said state board spokeswoman Becky Watts.

Superintendent Of Poor District Has A Most Lucrative Contract, Is Owed $500,000 For Sick Days

THIRD STORY: Published in the Daily Southtown, June 19, 2005

By Linda Lutton

Sauk Village elementary schools Supt. Thomas E. Ryan tells people the district he heads is the second poorest in Cook County.

The same cannot be said for Ryan's contract, a five-year deal potentially worth more than $1.6 million - one that beats contracts held by superintendents in some of the wealthiest communities in the Chicago area.

Thanks to a sick-day provision of his agreement, the superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 168 is virtually guaranteed an additional $40,000 in annual pay - on top of a base salary this year of $183,020, and tens of thousands of dollars in perks.

If Ryan left the district today, Sauk Village taxpayers would owe him $518,418 for his bank of 694 accumulated sick days - a bank that continues to grow with no cap. They'd owe him another $26,145 for what he says are 35 unused vacation days. Ryan confirmed the number of sick and vacation days owed to him in a written response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

The Daily Southtown obtained Ryan's contract through a Freedom of Information Act request and asked attorneys and contract experts to assist in analyzing it.

Ryan's contract offers benefits enjoyed by few Illinois superintendents, including an annual payment for him to trade in his automobile and provisions that could require the district to pay for life and disability insurance for himself and health coverage for his daughters up to 12 years after he leaves the district's employ.

If the board ever finds cause to terminate his contract before it expires, in 2010, another provision requires the district to pay Ryan's legal fees.

The three-school, 1,800-student district Ryan has headed since 1989 is one of the most financially disadvantaged in the Chicago metro area. Property in the working-class school district has an equalized assessed value of just $43,542 per pupil - the second lowest in Cook County.

"This must be a very well-liked superintendent," concluded Ronald Barnes, principal of the Bickert Group superintendent search firm and an associate professor of education at Indiana University, who analyzed the contract at the request of the Southtown without knowing the name of the district or superintendent.

Ryan has been a controversial figure. While his skill at balancing school budgets has won praise - he has served as both business manager and superintendent in the district, which he pulled out of debt shortly after arriving - Ryan has attracted perennial criticism for his discipline and residency policies, both of which have landed District 168 in court.

The Cook County state's attorney is reviewing the district's most recent audit, which found a number of improper payments from school funds to Ryan, including reimbursements for cabinets in his Orland Park home, insurance on his family's autos and medical expenses he was not entitled to.

The Southtown reported last week that the Cook County state's attorney has convened a grand jury to investigate the audit findings. Ryan has already appeared before that grand jury but declined to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, according to a source close to the investigation.

Board members gave Ryan a raise and added perks to his contract in January, just months after learning the results of the audit.

Ryan 's unusual sick day policy

School districts in the state allow administrators and teachers to save unused sick days as an incentive to reduce absences. But most districts cap the number at 340, the maximum number of uncompensated sick days school employees can turn in to the pension system to boost their pensions or push up their retirement date.

Ryan's sick days accumulate without limit, and he gets about five times as many as is typical - 60 every year. Usually, contracts give administrators the same number of sick days as are given to teachers, adjusted for a 12-month year. Teachers in Sauk Village get 13 sick days.

Under most contracts, unused sick days either can't be compensated at all or can be cashed in at a nominal rate.

But Ryan, under his contract, can cash in his unused sick days for full pay -- which this year is $747 per day. If he manages to get through the year without calling in sick, he'll make an extra $44,820 this year -- essentially receiving pay as though he had worked for 305 days of the year, the equivalent of working Monday through Saturday all year.

According to his contract, if he decides to cash the days in later, he'll make even more because accumulated sick days will be paid at the salary Ryan earns in the year he cashes the days in, not at the rate he was paid when he earned them. In the last year of his current five-year contract, Ryan will be paid $882 per day for every unused sick day. His 60 days that year will be worth $52,920 in extra pay, on top of a guaranteed $216,166 salary.

If he doesn't cash in his sick days before that, his contract permits his bank of days to potentially grow to 994 -- an estimated $877,000 sick-day payout. Even if Ryan turns in 340 of the days to boost his pension or to retire early, the district could still owe him some $570,000.

"This (is) an incredible financial burden for this district," said Mike Johnson, head of the Illinois Association of School Boards.

Huge payouts can leave districts smarting for years afterward as they are strapped with exorbitant pension contributions. A bill recently passed by the General Assembly will push districts' pension contributions even higher.

Contract may top New Trier's

Ryan 's compensation during the 2003-04 school year landed him in the top 8 percent of superintendents in the state, according to an Illinois State Board of Education list of superintendent compensation -- based on total compensation to Ryan of $199,492.

That figure, reported by the district to the state board, is about $44,000 short of what tax forms indicate Ryan was paid in 2004. W-2 forms show that District 168 paid Ryan $243,000 last year.

Per capita income in Sauk Village is $16,598 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. District 168 teachers have one of the lowest average salaries in the south suburbs: $38,419. The state average is $54,446.

In addition to a base salary of $183,020, Ryan gets $7,200 in car travel expenses, up to $8,000 in reimbursements for medical costs not covered by his insurance and his cell phone bill paid. He also gets 30 vacation days annually, which if unused can be turned in at the per-diem rate, adding up to an extra $29,880 this year.

Board president Louise Morales did not respond to a written question asking her to state the total cost of Ryan 's contract -- which could be more than $1.6 million for the five years, beating contracts of superintendents in Wilmette and Glencoe, communities with some of the highest property values in the state.

Ryan's base pay is not as high as Wilmette's superintendent, but his perks - including, according to his contract, the sick-day provision, insurance benefits and his generous vacation allowance - push his overall compensation higher.

In New Trier Township High School District, one of the state's most elite school districts, Supt. Hank Bangser, recently included in a Chicago Sun-Times round-up of "school pay heavyweights," gets 20 percent raises in each of his last four years on the job. But his five-year contract contains a $1.44 million cap - a figure Ryan could surpass without even counting the 694 sick days he's already accumulated.

William Attea, president of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, a superintendent search firm that has represented more than 400 school boards across the country in superintendent searches, said boards generally don't know what contracts with their superintendents may ultimately cost.

"There are multiple clauses (in superintendent contracts) that contain benefits. Nobody adds them up," Attea said. "You'll have $13,000 there, $2,000 there, $17,000 there, and nobody bothers to add them up. Some are very obtuse. People don't know what the cost is when you say, 'Shall provide automobile insurance.' By throwing in those blank clauses, (boards) give superintendents carte blanche."

If board members trust the superintendent or lawyer writing the contract, Attea said, "they may never ask the question, 'What is this going to cost?' "

One contract expert asked by the Southtown to review and give his opinion on Ryan 's contract asked not to be named for fear public comment could affect his ability to get work.

"There are no protections that the board has built for itself in this contract," he said.

Ryan is a governing board member representing Cook County's south suburbs on the statewide Illinois Association of School Administrators. He withdrew from a run for president of that organization in April after the Southtown reported that he had ordered $68,600 in checks to be issued from school funds to be paid to three separate universities over an eight-year period to pay for his daughters' tuition.

Ryan has said the district owed him that money for unused vacation days.

"It's the board's fault. It's not the superintendent 's fault," said the expert when asked his opinion. "The superintendent is taking advantage of them, but it's the board's fault."

Joel DeTella, an attorney with the law firm of Scariano, Himes & Petrarca who has acted as general counsel for the district, said he prepared the current contract at board members' direction.

"The board determines what the terms of that contract will be," explained DeTella, who said Ryan was not represented by legal counsel during the contract's drafting.