Cahokia schools’ contract fight intensifies as union raises new allegations

A press conference held by the Cahokia Federation of Teachers in which its leaders accused the district of new “financial and oversight failures” and “demonstrably false statements” was interrupted by an email from the superintendent himself.

“Clearly, at this point, everyone can see that these contract negotiations are no longer about the union employees you are charged with representing or our students’ best interests, but about your personal and political agendas,” Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr. wrote in a statement sent to district employees.

While McCall repeatedly contends the union’s allegations are false and a ploy to distract from contentious contract negotiations that have lasted eight months, the union said it has uncovered potential wrongdoing.

“These are separate issues, but, because they came to light, we have to bring them forward,” said Wendy Lochmann, the local’s president. “It’s not just a tactic. This is important stuff. The public has a right to know what’s going on in our schools, and we can’t bargain in good faith when the other side is not playing fair.”

Last month, the union made allegations of financial mismanagement and asked for prosecutors to investigate them.

At Wednesday’s press conference, the Cahokia Federation of Teachers alleged that the public school system is poorly managed and that some of the leaders’ actions are potentially illegal.

Among their allegations:

• The union said it identified 36 additional employees that serve as “attendance ambassadors” who were paid, but the district did not provide records the union requested to document their work.
• The union said McCall did not provide a letter from the Illinois attorney general’s office that deemed previous accusations that the district paid for an employee’s Medicare supplement plan without proper agreement to be “unfounded.”
• The union says four years of additional payroll records show Assistant Superintendent Arnette Harvey was paid more than $1 million in gross pay above his contracted salary since 2019, disputing McCall’s characterization of the payments as a contract buyout.
• The union said invoices obtained through public record requests show the district paid nearly $80,000 since fiscal 2022 to a catering business owned by the mother of the district’s chief financial officer, including $950 to feed the board of education at every meeting.
• Finally, the union said the ongoing dispute is negatively affecting students.

McCall did not respond to a request for comment specifically about the new claims the union presented Wednesday, but spoke with the BND earlier that day. He said he knew what the allegations were going to be based on public records requests the union recently submitted, and maintains they are baseless claims.

Last month, the union named four individuals it said the district paid despite no evidence they worked. On Wednesday, it added 36 new names to its list.

The union requested documentation, such as timesheets, reports from fobs used to scan in and out of buildings and district email login time stamps. When the district failed to provide those records, the union concluded that either some of those individuals were “ghost employees” or that the district violated public records law.

The union also noted that some employees named Wednesday do show up to work, but questioned why the district didn’t produce proof.

McCall said those conclusions about “ghost employees” were false ahead of Wednesday’s press conference. Different jobs yield different work products, and that could explain why some of the records requested didn’t exist, he said. He added that the district is working on modernizing and improving its record-keeping systems. This includes making written agreements — not just verbal ones — regarding job details.

The Belleville News-Democrat filed similar records requests. McCall acknowledged there were some records – such as Assistant Superintendent Arnett Harvey’s contract – that the district should have provided, but didn’t due to an oversight.

The union previously alleged that the district paid at least two monthly premiums for a supplemental Medicare plan for an employee named Minnie Taylor, whose daughter is state Sen. Chris Belt’s wife and an administrator in the district. Roskos said the district would need an employment agreement explicitly stating it would pay for the Medicare premium to do that. When the union submitted a public records request for such an agreement, the district did not produce one.

This week, McCall said the Illinois attorney general’s office concluded the claims to be “unfounded” in a letter. When the union requested that letter through a records request, it was denied because it had been marked confidential, according to McCall.

A records request to the attorney general’s office found no relevant records, according to a response received by the union.

In February, the union alleged that Harvey, the assistant superintendent, made $406,000 more in gross pay than his contracted salary for fiscal 2024. After obtaining more payroll records, Roskos believes Harvey made more than $1 million in gross pay since 2019.

McCall had said last month that Harvey plans to retire when his contract expires in June, and the district is essentially “buying out his contract.”

Even if you added up all vacation and sick days that Harvey could have since 2019, Roskos estimated that it would total $357,000. Also, a buyout requires a resignation, the union believes. “Bottom line: It’s not a buyout,” Roskos said. “...We demand to know what it is for. The community, the students and the staff deserve answers.”

The News-Democrat requested Harvey’s payroll records for fiscal years 2023 through the present. The district responded with check records for fiscal years 2020 through 2023, which showed the same anomalies as the documents the union said it obtained for that time period.

The union also obtained invoices through a records request that show the district spent nearly $80,000 on a catering company owned by the mother of the district’s chief financial officer since fiscal 2022.

Throughout the press conference, the union said the alleged financial mismanagement, such as large spending on catering, and relying on permanent substitutes instead of focusing on attracting and retaining teachers has made a toxic work environment and ultimately impacts students.

“The point is: He’s choosing to take care of family and friends and administrators over classrooms,” Roskos said of McCall.

The union requested local state lawmakers, including Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, Rep. Kevin Schmidt, R-Millstadt, and Belt, D-Swansea, to call for an investigation. They also repeated their request for the school board to conduct an independent audit.

The tension between the union and district administration has been brewing since last summer when all three units’ contracts expired. The teachers and certified staff, secretaries and service employees have worked the school year without a contract, and negotiations have been unfruitful over pay and changes to the sick leave policy.

This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 5:00 AM.