SD152½ Finance panel vacancy filled

Jim Hook, Daily Southtown, 6/27/04

Bruce Setchell has been appointed to the Hazel Crest School District 152½ finance authority by state schools Supt. Robert Schiller.

Setchell replaces Ed O'Malley, who announced in February that he would leave the finance authority. Setchell will fill out the remaining two years of O'Malley's term. Setchell's term begins July 1.

Setchell is a former business manager for Crete-Monee School District 201U and is the part-time controller in Lansing School District 158. He has also served as superintendent of schools in Tampico and Lanark, and as an interim superintendent.

Hazel Crest has been governed by a state-appointed school finance authority since late 2002 when the district teetered to the edge of bankruptcy.

It is one of six districts operating under state financial panels.

O'Malley announced his resignation in late February, about one month after the Hazel Crest school finance authority voted to keep the district independent and scrap the idea of a merger with a neighboring district.

O'Malley was the only member of the finance authority to argue that the district should continue to explore consolidation.