New details have emerged in the case of popular Oak Park Township community youth advocate Stephen Jackson, who was terminated from his position on Oct. 2.
According to his notice of termination, Jackson violated the township’s personnel policies when he started a consulting business, Global CommUnity Associates (GCA), earlier this year without securing approval from township officials. Township officials also noted that GCA’s mentoring and peace circle services are similar to ones offered by the township, which created potential conflicts of interest and confusion.
After learning of Jackson’s new business, township officials hired an attorney to conduct an investigation into the possible personnel violation. The investigation found that Jackson “used township emails” to promote GCA by “signing off with the ‘tag line’ used on GCA’s website — ‘There is no unity without community.'”
It also found that Jackson handed out GCA business cards to personnel at Oak Park and River Forest High School, where he facilitated a popular program called Motivational Mentoring.
In addition, the notice states that the township’s investigation found that Jackson created two audio podcasts relating to township peace circles on GCA’s website, creating “the impression that the work was done on behalf of GCA” and that Jackson’s name appeared on another organization’s proposal for youth mentoring services presented by the Oak Park-based nonprofit Institute for Science Education and Technology (ISET), among other findings.
“It appears to the township that you were trying to take advantage of your position with the township to promote your private business,” the termination notice stated.
Some of Jackson’s supporters, however, have pushed back against the township’s reasoning for the termination. And in a recent interview, Jackson brought up what he considered the township’s double-standard when it comes to how it perceives conflicts of interest.
John Phelan, former Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 board president, wrote a strongly worded op-ed, published in Wednesday Journal’s Nov. 10 edition, questioning the township’s explanation.
“If the township’s asserted reasons for terminating Stephen are honest, they are very disappointing,” Phelan wrote. “These reasons evidence a great deal more concern for the township’s politics and finances than for the well-being of the children of our community.”
“Stephen repeatedly asked township officials for direction on how to comply with their expectations. No direction was offered,” Phelan said. “Instead, township officials became irate when a vendor put Stephen’s name on a proposal to perform work for an Oak Park middle school. They ignored Stephen’s explanation that he did not give permission to be named and that he promptly told the vendor to remove his name from the proposal.”
That vendor was Darryl Allen, a managing partner with Mentorship Institute (MI). Township officials said Jackson met with Allen and Chemaine Carr, an assistant principal at Percy Julian, to discuss developing a $60,000 program for at-risk youth that would be proposed to ISET.
Township Supervisor F. David Boulanger, who is a member of ISET’s board, drafted a signed letter noting that the township had no association with MI and that it took no position on the quality of the proposal.
In a recent interview, Jackson said the township offered him a two-month severance package in exchange for his silence on the termination, which he turned down. Township officials interviewed for this story all noted that they couldn’t comment directly on Jackson’s firing, since it’s a personnel matter.
Jackson also declined to comment directly. He instead made available an array of documents, including his termination notice and email correspondences between him and township officials, which reveal that, in the months leading up to his termination, there had been some tension between him and top township officials — primarily Youth Services Director John Williams and township Manager Gavin Morgan.
According to Jackson, Williams brought him on as a community youth advocate — a role that hadn’t existed before. Jackson started out with the township four years ago as a volunteer before working his way into a full-time, $38,000-a-year position, which reported directly to Williams.
Jackson said he appreciated the opportunity, but eventually yearned for more professional development, more formal supervision, a more clearly defined job description and a formal performance assessment — none of which he received, he said.
In March, Jackson drafted a salary review in an unsuccessful attempt to lobby for a raise. In the document, he noted that his work as a community youth advocate warranted a pay increase because he was functioning as a program coordinator. In the review, Jackson cited the success of several programs, such as the Motivational Mentoring program at OPRF and the Youth Empowerment Symposium.
In an August email, Williams told Jackson that he wanted to bring to his attention “some concerns about you creating confusion as to your role” in youth services and “your private venture.” Williams said that Jackson’s email sign off — “There is no Unity without CommUnity” — and his recommendations for updating the youth services web page, which included adding the word “CommUnity” in several places, gave the impression that Jackson was using township communications to promote his brand.
“There seems to be confusion as to whether you are promoting Youth Services Motivational Mentoring and YES programs with District 200 or CommUnity mentoring which appears to be part of your private venture,” Williams wrote. “Please refrain from blurring the lines between your Township and your Private business ventures.”
Counterclaims
But Jackson has claimed, however, that the standards the township applied to him didn’t apply to Williams, since the latter has also contracted with outside entities. The contrasting treatment, he said, led him to consider the township’s implementation of its personnel policies as somewhat arbitrary.
Jackson highlighted Williams’ involvement with his own consulting firm, JFSW, Inc., and his role as a paid facilitator of the crisis intervention training (CIT) model, which is tailored to law enforcement professionals.
Jackson recalled participating, along with several other township employees, in a training program at Triton College. He said the 40-hour block of training, which he noted was conducted while he and his co-workers were on township time, was unrelated to his functions as a youth advocate and that no certification came out of it.
Jackson also provided a copy of a PowerPoint slide from a training Williams facilitated. The slide is dated March 2012 and under Williams’ name is the name of his firm, JFSW, and his position as youth services director at the township — which Jackson said suggested a conflict of interest.
“The staff from [the township] were allowed to attend that training as guests, as have folks from other nonprofits and organizations as well,” said Williams, who addressed the Triton trainings specifically in a phone interview.
He said the township didn’t pay for the training at Triton directly and that he was administering the training while on his vacation time. He didn’t address Jackson’s claim that the employees were being paid indirectly, since they were still on the township’s time.
“When I’m doing a training I take time off and I do that work outside the township,” he said. “I’m paid for the services I provide for that training.”
Williams said that, although the staff members didn’t receive formal certification from the training, he believes it still proved beneficial to their development.
“It was an opportunity to get training and the feedback from all of the staff was that it was very helpful,” said Williams. “Also, they didn’t get a certificate because the only people who can be certified for CIT are sworn law enforcement officials. But some people come in and sit in as part of the presentation or as part of their observation and the feedback is excellent. It was a good opportunity for everybody.”
Boulanger said that Williams’ business-related activities were pre-approved by the township. Williams said, in addition to approval, he’s required to file annual statements of financial interest and that there’s no conflict of interest.
“We have a policy in the township personnel manual about approvals and all of our folks who have engaged in training outside regular work have had approval,” said Township Supervisor David Boulanger in a phone interview.
“As far as John Williams is concerned, I’m very aware of efforts he has made [with respect to skill-sharing] outside of our community and we take them as good, professional things that have benefitted other communities.”
Jackson said that he wasn’t aware of how to go about the approval process and didn’t know that he had violated the personnel policy when he started his firm several months ago. He noted that, far from starting his firm in secret, he had passed out business cards among township employees and started a website.
In the months leading to his termination, Jackson said he also tried rectifying issues that Williams had with the email signoffs, the business cards and the website language, among other complaints — all of which the termination notice says created confusion regarding Jackson’s township responsibilities and his personal interests.
In a series of August emails, Jackson apologized to Williams, who had been out of town at the time, and Morgan “for not taking ownership [of] what is mine” and for “causing the confusion with my actions.” He also suggested a peace circle for the three to resolve any work-related issues, but emails show he was rebuffed by Morgan and Williams, who didn’t think the action appropriate.
“When I talk about the change I was speaking about my signature on Oak Park Township email,” Jackson wrote in an Aug. 17 email. “If there any other changes that need to be made please let me know.”
But in retrospect, Jackson believes the die had already been cast. Although township officials wouldn’t comment directly on his Oct. 2 termination, they have insisted that Jackson was fired because of clear-cut personnel violations.
Going forward, Jackson said his focus will be on trying to resume his work with students at OPRF. Township officials said that the mentoring program Jackson facilitated at the school is under review, but supporters of Jackson have taken things into their own hands.
The Illinois School Code prohibits the district from hiring felons to work in positions that involve regular contact with students, so they’ve started the Stephen Jackson Clemency Project to convince Gov. Bruce Rauner to grant Jackson clemency. The project has a Facebook page and will focus on drafting a clemency petition, in addition to soliciting letters of support, for Jackson. So far, it has received the support of Phelan and some school board members, such as Sara Dixon Spivy.
“A legislative solution is an option but would take too long and be too uncertain,” wrote Phelan in his editorial. “Instead, community leaders, D200 board members and OPRF faculty members, administrators, staff and students have come together to help Stephen seek executive clemency to enable him to continue his important work.”
