West Cook News

A teachers' union-backed candidate for River Forest school board says she isn't responsible for a harassment campaign that led her rival to quit the race.

"I have nothing to do with Scott Hall’s campaign suspension and it’s very disappointing his supporters are implicating me," Sarah Eckmann, 39, told West Cook News.

Sources tell West Cook News that Eckmann supporters sent disparaging letters to the employer of candidate Scott Hall as well as to a local non-profit preschool where Hall sits on the board. 

Sources say they also called the district superintendent to say Hall shouldn't be allowed to substitute teach at his child's elementary school.

Eckmann is backed by the union and says she is endorsed by the current school board president, Rich Moore, who opposes full-time, in-person learning. Hall has called for River Forest schools to re-open.

Angry residents have started an online petition demanding the current board publicly denounce this “abhorrent behavior” in the campaign.

“Further investigation is needed to determine who is behind this terrible conduct against a terrific candidate and neighbor. This conduct should never exist in our community or anywhere else in our country, wrote River Forest resident Kevin Hughes, who signed the petition.

The River Forest Police Chief Jim O'Shea did not respond to a request for comment.

“Bad for business”

Eckmann backers sent a letter to Kindness Creators Intergenerational Preschool in Oak Park threatening that it would be "bad for business" if they continued to allow Hall to serve on its board of directors. The letter was unsigned.

"I can only describe (the letter) as an attempt at voter intimidation," wrote River Forest resident John Lawrence, 49, on Facebook. His wife, Pam, co-founded and teaches at the school.

Lawrence said the letter made "wild and flagrant accusations... I can say with knowledge are untrue. I will not be intimidated, my wife will not be intimidated- this strengthened our resolve, and our support for Scott and his family."

In late February, sources say eleven Eckmann supporters called district superintendent Ed Condon to protest Hall's serving as a substitute teaching aide at Lincoln Elementary School. His employer also allegedly received an anonymous letter claiming he was volunteering at the school during work hours and thus violating his own employee agreement with the company.

“While I set out with great purpose and noble intent, I, my family, my friends and even local businesses with which I associate have been repeatedly threatened, harassed and disparaged,” Hall posted on Facebook, bowing out of the race last week. “I can't continue to subject myself, my family and friends to this harassment.”

Eckmann then released a statement seeking to distance herself from the allegations.

"it is disappointing that his campaign has ended early, and that his supporters will no longer be able to support their candidate," she wrote.

"We are being ravaged"

A one-time Arena Football League cheerleader and nurse who, according to her LinkedIn page, now gives botox injections for a Villa Park chiropractor, Eckmann attracted union backing last year after making fiery Facebook posts citing her medical expertise while scolding River Forest residents she saw letting their children play with others outside, or who wanted schools to re-open.

"With some of the whining from a few members of the community.. with the sole goal of 'opening schools," she wrote in a Dec. 2020 Facebook post obtained by West Cook News. "Please understand that we do not live in a bubble and we are being ravaged (in River Forest)."

"Just because some (people) are going on with their daily activities as if they're safe and unconcerned, it doesn't mean they should. Please reconsider your holiday plans."

At the time she made the statement, River Forest (pop. 10,970) had seen a single alleged COVID-19 death-- a woman in her 70's, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner. It has seen two more alleged deaths since-- both people in their 80's-- for a total of three. 

Eckmann has cultivated left-wing community support, posting pictures on social media of herself dressed in Black Lives Matter garb, and of her three young children holding signs that read "God is a Woman # Mother Earth" and "Save our planet #climate strike."

She proved sharp-tongued to opposing opinions.

"You just want to be rude to a (River Forest resident) that maybe you envy?" she responded to a critic. "I'm not sure what your deal is buttttt (sic) you all are such hypocrites. It's laughable."

"I understand some ppl don't care about the lives of others and also in the same vein don't want to deal with their children during the day.. I get it," she wrote.

Eckmann deleted all of her 2020 Facebook posts before announcing her school board campaign