ADVERSE EMPLOYMENT ACTIONS AND PUBLIC SCHOOL ...

Janet Drews was a principal hired by the board at the beginning of the 2005-2006 school
year. Tom showed strong support of Drews early on, but by the end of the year he recommended
her non-renewal. Also during the 2005-2006 school year, Larry Custer served as a lead bus
driver and testified that Tom “told him” that he (Custer) was the transportation director. Kathy
Ohrt was Tom’s secretary, and she had the duty to report the 2005-2006 daily attendance
averages, which she did. However, she claimed and Tom would testify later that Tom changed
the figures impacting the amount of funding that St. George received from the government.
While these events were occurring in the St. George district, Deborah Nuzzi (Tom’s
wife) was involved in a lawsuit with Bourbonnais school district where she was suing the district
and a specific board member for sexual harassment. James DeZwaan was the superintendent of
the Bourbonnais School district during Deborah’s tenure. Deborah ultimately lost her suit. She
did, however, conveniently find work in Drews’ vacant principal position. (Tom was not
involved in the interview or selection process). The board, following negotiations with Deborah,
agreed on a salary of $78,000 for the 2006-2007 school year. An important stipulation in her
contract was that any salary modification to her contract had to be made in written amendments
to the contract.
At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, Nguyen received another raise based on
Tom’s recommendation, this one for $10,000. Just prior to September 2006, Nguyen testified
that Tom directed her to add an additional $12,500 to Deborah’s yearly salary to be spread over
her eleven-month contract: $3,000 was for grant writing and the other $9,500 was for serving as
the transportation director. Moreover, Tom directed Nguyen to make these payments to three
separate accounts so as to not raise suspicions by the board or others. Nguyen questioned Tom
about these strange activities but was directed to do what she was told. Custer would testify that
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