The Rochester Board of Education has hired an Monticello, Illinois-based law firm to investigate the district superintendent who was placed on paid administrative leave.
Board President Amy Reynolds didn’t detail following Thursday’s special board meeting why Dan W. Cox was being investigated.
Miller, Tracy, Braun, Funk & Miller, Ltd. was hired by the board, Reynolds said at the meeting. The announcement followed a two-and-a-half hour executive session.
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The firm specializes in education law. Reynolds didn’t immediately disclose how much the firm was being paid.
Dan Cox, Superintendent of Schools in Rochester, answers questions during an interview at Rochester High School on Feb. 1, 2024. Cox was placed on paid administrative leave on Monday.
Normally, grievance investigations take 30 days, although it can ask for an extension, Reynolds said.
Reynolds and board vice president Todd Hannah met with Cox Monday.
Cox’s salary is $201,500 annually, according to the district website.
While details from Rochester officials have been scant, a letter to the editor in the Rochester Times last fall from the district’s former director of business services and treasurer, Robert “Bob” McDermott, raised issues about questionable business trips, budget overspending to the tune of $500,000 and other issues.
Jon Hansen, the district’s director of communications and engagement, refuted some of McDermott’s claims earlier this week.
McDermott, interviewed by The State Journal-Register several times in November and over Monday and Tuesday, maintained that details in the letter might have led directly to Cox’s leave or prompted other questions about him.
“In my head, if someone’s placed on administrative leave, there’s something that they need to investigate and obviously it has to be serious,” said McDermott, who spent 22 years with the district before retiring on June 30, 2023.
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McDermott now lives out of state.
During public comment, Sarah Manning Kerley praised the board and its work, but also urged it to be as transparent as possible.
“Please know that you have community support as you work through the next several difficult weeks,” said Kerley, a candidate for one of three board seats up on April 1.
Cox has been with the district since 2020, coming from the superintendent position in Staunton. Cox also was the superintendent with the Jasper County Community Unit School District in Newton.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788: sspearie@sj-r.com: X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Law firm hired to investigate Rochester superintendent on leave
