The District 209 board announced the appointment of two new members of the state-appointed finance oversight panel at its school board meeting July 17.
New powers given the financial panel include expanding the group from three to five, with two members being from the district’s community. Welch has complained the finance panel, made up of three white retired finance officers from other school districts, has a cultural disconnect with Proviso.
New members of the panel are Proviso residents Frank Montgomery and Kenneth Walls.
Montgomery is a former assistant principal and athletic director at Proviso West who ran unsuccessfully for school board in the past. He is the cousin of Cook County Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore. Moore was the district’s insurance broker, until the finance oversight panel asked that bids be taken for district insurance work. The district saved more than $150,000 on new, cheaper insurance.
Kenneth Walls is Director of Security Operations for IFPC Worldwide, Inc. in Chicago, a private security firm. He lives in Broadview and has been a resident in the district for 17 years.