East St. Louis parents calling for ex-public works director to step down from school board
Tim Lockett has been on school board since 2021
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - Calls are growing for a fired East St. Louis public works director to be removed from the city’s school district board.
East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III told News 4 that public works director, Timothy Lockett Sr., was fired for signing off on certain contracts without seeking council approval. Eastern estimates that the contracts are worth around $250,000, dating to back to roughly 2021.
Eastern said the State of Illinois requires the city council to approve projects that cost more than $20,000. The City of East St. Louis requires projects costing more than $10,000 to go through council approval. Eastern said Lockett signed off on many projects under $20,000 and at least one for $43,500 without council approval. Eastern said Lockett used emergency powers to approve some contracts.
According to East St. Louis School District 189′s website, Lockett has been the board vice president since 2021 and became board president last month.
Lockett has declined to comment to News 4, citing advice from his lawyer, but Thursday he responded to News 4 via text by saying: “I will not be stepping down. Only allegations.”
“You only know what you can see and what you feel, and what I see and feel is a district that is in big trouble,” said East St. Louis school district parent Jennifer Chike. “I think that he needs to be removed from the school board. To hear about money being mishandled is the last thing that you want to hear. As a parent, I’m angry. I’m disappointed. I’m not surprised, but this is exactly the reason parents aren’t engaged, because we know things like this are happening.”
Chike told News 4 she is running for a school board seat in April.
Officials with the school district declined to comment on the situation. The next school board meeting is February 21.
Members of the school either declined to comment or didn’t return News 4′s requests for comment.
School board members aren’t paid, it’s a voluntary position.
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