CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, IL – September 11, 2026 (STL.News) Questions surrounding payroll, employment practices and financial oversight at Cahokia Unit School District 187 are intensifying after Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr. reportedly defended a position held by a relative but declined to publicly explain what the employee does for the district.
The latest questions come amid a much broader dispute between district leadership and the Cahokia Federation of Teachers Local 1272, which has spent months raising allegations about district payroll, employee documentation and other expenditures.
McCall has disputed the union’s allegations and previously accused union leadership of using financial accusations in an increasingly contentious labor dispute.
The latest controversy centers on Kshon McCall, whom FOX 2 reporting and union representatives have identified as the superintendent’s relative.
According to the reporting, Kshon McCall holds a district position identified as Director of Grounds and Landscape. Questions have been raised about the position’s compensation, reportedly ranging from approximately $96,000 to more than $110,000.
But perhaps the biggest unanswered question is a relatively simple one: What does the employee do?
McCall has reportedly defended the position as justified while declining to provide FOX 2 with a detailed explanation of Kshon McCall’s responsibilities.
That lack of explanation has taken on greater significance because District 187 faces continuing scrutiny over other employees, compensation, and whether sufficient documentation exists to show work performed by people receiving district funds.
Cahokia Superintendent – McCall has worked for the district for years
Publicly available district records reviewed in connection with the controversy indicate Kshon McCall is not a recent addition to the Cahokia school system.
A District 187 annual publication from 2013 lists Kshon Foresst McCall among district employees.
Later district financial records also identify Kshon Foresst McCall among non-certified personnel earning between $40,000 and $59,999.
Public salary information additionally lists Kshon F. McCall as a District 187 employee in 2018.
Those records are important because they suggest the current controversy should not necessarily be characterized as the superintendent simply hiring a relative after becoming superintendent.
According to District 187’s official history, Curtis McCall Jr. did not become superintendent until the 2023-24 school year.
Instead, the questions concern Kshon McCall’s current position, compensation, responsibilities, and how the position was authorized or structured.
The district’s history identifies Curtis McCall Jr. as superintendent beginning with the 2023-24 school year. Arnett Harvey served as superintendent from the 2019-20 through 2022-23 school years.
Cahokia Superintendent – Broader financial allegations surround district
The controversy is part of a larger battle over District 187’s finances and employment practices.
Earlier this year, the Cahokia Federation of Teachers accused the district of paying people for whom the union said it could not obtain documentation demonstrating work performed.
The union used the term “ghost employees.”
District leadership has strongly disputed that characterization.
In February, First Alert 4 reported union representatives alleged employees had received substantial amounts of district money without adequate documentation of their work.
McCall categorically rejected the allegation.
“No one works in this district that’s a quote-unquote ghost employee,” McCall told First Alert 4 at the time.
The dispute subsequently expanded.
According to the Belleville News-Democrat, the union initially identified four individuals it questioned and later raised questions about 36 additional employees described as “attendance ambassadors.”
Union representatives sought records including timesheets, building-access information, district email activity, and other documentation they believed could show whether and when work was performed.
McCall countered that different jobs produce different kinds of records and that the absence of a particular document does not establish that an employee failed to work.
He also acknowledged that the district needed to modernize portions of its record-keeping system and move toward written agreements regarding job details rather than relying on verbal arrangements.
That distinction is important.
A union’s or news organization’s inability to obtain a particular timesheet, key-fob record, or email does not, by itself, establish that someone was improperly paid. The union’s claims remain allegations unless an audit, investigation, court proceeding, or other authoritative finding substantiates them.
Nevertheless, the dispute has raised significant questions about how a public school district documents employment and spending taxpayer money.
Cahokia Superintendent – More than $1 million in additional pay questioned
One of the most significant disputes involves former Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent Arnett Harvey.
Union representatives alleged that Harvey received more than $1 million in gross compensation above what they believed his contracted salary authorized since 2019.
Earlier reporting by the Belleville News-Democrat found payroll records containing payments the union questioned.
McCall disputed the union’s interpretation of those records and previously described payments associated with Harvey’s departure as effectively buying out contractual obligations.
The union challenged that explanation.
The News-Democrat reported in March that payroll records it obtained showed anomalies similar to those identified in documents reviewed by union representatives.
Harvey has had a lengthy career with District 187. In 2025, the Illinois Association of School Boards reported that Harvey received the Illinois Association of School Business Officials Distinguished Service Award, citing more than 30 years of service to the district.
That recognition does not resolve separate questions about compensation, but it provides important context about Harvey’s long history with the school system.
Cahokia Superintendent – Catering expenditures also questioned
The teachers’ union has also questioned district spending involving a catering business.
According to records reported by the Belleville News-Democrat, the district spent nearly $80,000 beginning in fiscal 2022 with a catering company that the union said was owned by the mother of the district’s chief financial officer.
The union argued that the relationship and expenditures deserved greater scrutiny.
Again, a familial relationship or a district’s use of a particular vendor does not, by itself, demonstrate illegal conduct. Questions involving competitive bidding requirements, disclosure, authorization, and conflicts of interest depend on the specific facts and applicable laws and policies.
Taken together, the allegations have created growing demand from union representatives for an outside examination of District 187’s financial practices.
Cahokia Superintendent – FOX 2 says district leaders won’t answer
The dispute has also increasingly become a transparency issue.
In a Sept. 1 report, FOX 2 said it made a sixth in-person attempt to get answers from district leadership about the financial allegations.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers also said it had encountered difficulty obtaining answers.
FOX 2 subsequently returned to the district while investigating Kshon McCall’s employment.
Reporters’ continued inability to obtain detailed responses matters because District 187 is a public institution supported by taxpayers.
Public employees are entitled to the same protections against unsupported accusations as anyone else. At the same time, government entities must account for public expenditures and explain the purpose of publicly funded positions.
The question surrounding Kshon McCall therefore extends beyond his relationship with the superintendent.
If a district pays an employee approximately $100,000 annually, taxpayers have a legitimate interest in knowing the employee’s title, general responsibilities, compensation, and how the position serves the district.
Cahokia Superintendent – No finding of illegal nepotism
The controversy also requires careful distinction between a potential appearance of favoritism and an actual violation of law.
STL.News has not identified an authoritative finding establishing that Kshon McCall’s employment violates Illinois nepotism law or that either McCall engaged in illegal conduct related to the position.
Some online material discussing District 187 has cited Section 10-23.8 of the Illinois School Code in discussions of alleged nepotism.
However, that section of Illinois law concerns superintendent contracts. It should not be characterized as a general statutory prohibition against school-district nepotism.
Whether any district policy, ethics provision, conflict-of-interest requirement, or other Illinois law applies to the circumstances would require additional evidence about the precise family relationship, hiring and promotion process, supervisory authority, board approvals, and other facts.
The precise relationship between Curtis McCall Jr. and Kshon McCall also should not be assumed beyond credible reports identifying them as relatives unless additional documentation establishes that relationship.
Cahokia Superintendent – Contract fight enters another school year
The financial controversy is unfolding during an already difficult labor relationship.
Teachers and other employees represented by Local 1272 entered another school year without a new contract.
The union and district have disagreed over compensation, sick-leave policies, staffing, and other employment conditions.
McCall has repeatedly maintained that the financial accusations are intertwined with the labor battle.
Union representatives reject that argument, saying the financial issues uncovered through public-records requests deserve examination regardless of contract negotiations.
The district has also faced criticism for relying on permanent substitute teachers in positions the union says should be filled by certified educators.
Those circumstances have turned what began as a labor disagreement into a broader public debate over the district’s priorities, management and financial accountability.
Cahokia Superintendent – Public records could answer key questions
Many of the remaining questions about Kshon McCall’s position could be answered through district records.
Those include when the Director of Grounds and Landscape position was created, its official job description, salary history, qualifications, who recommended the appointment or promotion, when the Board of Education approved it, and whether the superintendent participated in those decisions.
Records could also establish the department’s budget, number of employees supervised by the director, and responsibilities assigned to the position.
None of those questions presupposes wrongdoing.
They are ordinary accountability questions involving public money.
District records already demonstrate that Kshon McCall has had a lengthy employment history with Cahokia Unit School District 187, dating back at least to 2013. That history makes it especially important to distinguish between his original employment with the district and the changes that eventually led to his current position and compensation.
For now, the unanswered question highlighted by the latest reporting remains straightforward.
The superintendent says the position is justified.
What remains unclear publicly is precisely what the job entails — and why a detailed explanation has been so difficult to obtain.
Editor’s note: Allegations concerning “ghost employees,” unauthorized compensation, nepotism, or financial misconduct discussed in this report are allegations made by union representatives or questions raised in public reporting. STL.News has not identified a court ruling or final government investigative finding establishing criminal wrongdoing by Superintendent Curtis McCall Jr., Kshon McCall, or other District 187 officials discussed in this report.
