Kane County Reporter

The community group Parents and Taxpayers for Children is expressing its disappointment in the U-46 school board's decision to prematurely extend the contract of Superintendent Tony Sanders. 

Sanders' previous contract was supposed to expire on June 30th, 2024, but the school board voted to extend his contract to June 30th, 2027, according to Examiner Publications. The board also gave Sanders a 4% salary increase, raising his income from $258,886 to $269,243, with no explanation of how it was earned.

"The Parents and Taxpayers for Children community group is profoundly disappointed in the unanimous vote cast by the U-46 school district board to prematurely extend the contract of Superintendent Tony Sanders this past Monday night," Linda Sabo, spokesperson for Parents and Taxpayers for Children, told Kane County Reporter. "With overall declining proficiency ratings indicated by the Illinois State Board of Education since 2014, no performance-based reviews of Superintendent Sanders released by the school board, and no listed contract extension discussion points on the school board's agenda over the past few months, this is unacceptable."

The Elgin Area School District U46 Board of Education provided no information to the public about their discussions on extending the superintendent's contract or increasing his salary. The only information provided was the date they were voting on the new contract, Examiner Publications reported.

"We have been working on this contract for a few months now, and we have done this all in closed session," Sue Kerr, U-46 school board president, said at the June 20 meeting, which was posted on YouTube. "Contracts are done in closed session. Personnel matters are done in closed session. Even [our] contracts with our six bargaining units are done in closed session and they're not made public until the vote is taken."