District 103’s director of English Language Services lives in Texas. And she doesn’t pay for her own commuting costs.
Expense reports obtained by the Landmark through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that the district pays Guadalupe Vander Ploeg’s airfare from El Paso, Texas to Chicago every month.
Vander Ploeg has lived in Texas since before she was hired in 2022 and works remotely except for the one week a month which she spends in person at the district.
Records show so far that the district has reimbursed Ploeg $2,652.05 since June for airline tickets with American Airlines. The cost of Vander Ploeg’s roundtrip, monthly flights ranged from $387.10 to $691.11. Vander Ploeg would typically leave El Paso on a Sunday or Monday and return the following weekend.
The perk comes on top of her $121,540 salary.
She oversees an English-language department in a district where at least 36% of students are classified as English Language Learners, state records show. According to the state, 10.5% of the district’s ELL students met or exceeded state standards in English Language Arts. In math, only a scant 0.2% of those students met state benchmarks.
Most public-school administrators live near where they work — certainly closer than 1,500 miles. A spokesperson from the Illinois State Board of Education said that “residency requirements for school administrators are generally permissible and left to the discretion of the district.” The district board’s policies do not appear to address staff or teacher residency requirements.
Officials did not respond to requests for comment.