As Country Club Hills District 160 reckons with board members’ big spending on travel, the district’s board approved personnel changes and voted to suspend its superintendent Tuesday.

While the board approved the resignations of Southwood Middle School Principal Phillip Bazile and assistant principals last month, Tuesday’s emergency meeting allowed them to appoint interim replacements and suspend Superintendent Duane Meighan for 10 days at the end of the month, district parent Sequoia Williams said.

Williams, a critic of the board, said she got into a heated argument with two children of board member Jaqueline Doss, which led to police intervention. Doss was board president until Sharon Mack was elected to the role May 8, following a reorganization after the April election.

“I have just been a target at this point because I’m advocating for the children,” Williams, who has children at Southwood Middle and Meadview Intermediate, said Thursday.

Meighan did not respond to messages left to his office Thursday.

The board’s agenda showed plans to appoint Michelle Johnson as interim principal/consultant at Southwood Middle School as well as Angelica Faith and Kyle Novak as interim assistant principals.

Bazile resigned as principal after being disciplined twice within three months, first for the unlawful search of students at the school on April 25, records obtained by the Daily Southtown show.

“It has come to my attention that all students were subjected to searches using a wand in each classroom to detect cell phones,” Meighan wrote in a letter to Bazile four days after the incident.

“The search was not authorized and was conducted without reasonable cause or prior notification to parents, making it an unlawful action that could expose the district to legal consequences,” the letter stated.

Meighan suspended Bazile with pay for two days, April 30 and May 1, and urged him to review district policy on search and seizure within the school.

“As educators and school administrators, we are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining a safe and conducive learning environment,” Meighan said. “However, we must also ensure that our actions adhere to the rights of students, as protected by law.”

Meighan said searching students is only permissible under reasonable suspicion they were violating the law or school policy.

The board approved a 10-day unpaid suspension for Bazile May 20.

The district disclosed a “principal development plan” for Bazile focused on improving ethics and professional norms, community of care and support for students, meaningful engagement of families and community, and operations and management.

The plan was expected to be executed between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026 and included coaching sessions, development of a crisis response protocol, a 48-hour response window for parent and family concerns, and monthly meetings with the superintendent “to review priorities and address challenges.”

Tuesday’s board meeting also included discussion of the use American Express credit card Williams said did not receive board approval.

The Daily Southtown previously reported that between January 2024 to 2025, the seven-member school board and Meighan spent $25,209 on registrations, travel, lodging and meals for conferences in Washington, San Diego, Dallas, New Orleans, Las Vegas and downtown Chicago.

Expenditure reports for all eight conferences show the district did not initially allocate any money for travel when the fiscal budget was approved. Later, the budget was amended to include $63,177 which the district spent about 40% of that with $37,967.94 left to spend.

Meanwhile, parents report the schools are in disrepair, busing fails to meet students’ needs, academic performance is declining and students are provided outdated technology.

ostevens@chicagtribune.com