Misconduct Charges Approved by Dolton 149 Board Against Ousted President

 Misconduct Charges Approved by Dolton 149 Board Against Ousted President
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 Misconduct Charges Approved by Dolton 149 Board Against Ousted President (Calumet City, IL) – South suburban Dolton School District 149’s Board of Education approved a resolution this week outlining allegations of misconduct against the district’s former board president, Rayya Ghani, who was ousted from her leadership post by a board majority in July.

At a special board meeting on Tuesday, October 11, the Board of Education, by a 4-1 vote, passed a resolution containing allegations of misconduct against Ghani during her approximately year-long tenure as the board president, including ordering an unauthorized 6% raise for a favored school district employee without the seven-member board’s approval.

“During approximately 14-months as board president, Rayya Ghani shamefully abused her office throughout her tenure an internal investigation has found,” said Dolton 149’s new Board President, Wilbur Tillman. “By this summer the allegations of official misconduct that had surfaced were sufficiently disturbing that the board majority was forced to remove Ghani from office and begin a formal investigation by the board’s outside general counsel.”

School Board Member Since 2006

Ghani, a school board member since 2006, was elected as board president in May 2021 and removed from that post by the board’s majority at a special board meeting on July 14, 2022. At that meeting, the board elected Tillman as president.

In addition to ordering a pay raise without board authorization to favored employee, a resolution adopted at Tuesday’s meeting also alleged that Ghani had “harassed, demeaned and yelled” at the district’s former business manager; showed up unannounced at the home of a fellow board member, Zacarias Castillo, following a board meeting, “harassing and intimidating” Castillo as well as making “discriminatory comments about his nationality,” and falsely presented herself as board president for months after her removal from office, creating chaos in the district.

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“These allegations against Rayya Ghani show an unacceptable pattern of misconduct and abuse of her office and abuse of the public trust of which she should be ashamed,” said Tillman. “Ghani’s scheme to reward a favored employee with a pay raise without board authorization and at taxpayers’ expense is a serious breach of a board president’s fiduciary duty to protect taxpayers’ money.”

Racially Offensive Comments Are “Disgraceful.”

“Additionally, Ghani’s abusive style of allegedly harassing and intimidating staff and of fellow board members, including making racially offensive comments to a Hispanic-American board member is disgraceful and has no place at Dolton 149,” said Tillman.

A special board meeting will be held In the next two weeks in which Ghani will be able to respond in her own defense to the allegations at a public session. If the board makes a determination that the allegations are founded, the board can formally censure Ghani or vote to remove her from her seat on the board on the grounds of failing to fulfill a board member’s fiduciary duty.

 Misconduct Charges Approved by Dolton 149 Board Against Ousted President

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“During approximately 14-months as board president, Rayya Ghani shamefully abused her office throughout her tenure an internal investigation by the board’s outside general counsel found, an investigation which included a review of hundreds of documents, emails, texts and witness interviews,” said Dolton 149’s new Board President, Wilbur Tillman. “The evidence presented at the special board hearing was sufficiently disturbing that the board majority was forced to convicted Ghani on all six charges and to remove Ghani from the board, effective immediately.”

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