Second trustee resigns from Glenbrook 225

Updated: September 6, 2012 3:59PM

GLENVIEW — Glenbrook School District 225 received its second letter of resignation last month from an outgoing trustee.

Steve Hammer stepped down at the Aug. 27 school board meeting, while Jeffrey Wolfson left Aug. 9. Both moved out of the school district serving Glenview and Northbrook.

District Spokeswoman Karen Geddeis said the board was discussing applications received for the vacancies.

Hammer thanked the school board, principals and staff he worked with during his seven-year tenure.

“The community is fortunate to have such dedicated people here,” he said, adding his son attends school at Tulane University in New Orleans.

“My son is well-prepared for college at Tulane (University) coming from Glenbrook North High School,” said Hammer, a Northbrook resident.

Board President Skip Shein said Hammer was especially helpful in overseeing the Northern Suburban Special Education District that served both schools.

“He made it work for our district and the whole community,” Trustee Monica Regalbuto said.

Hammer’s trustee assignment was on the Technology Committee, and he was a board member of North Suburban Special Education District.

Wolfson had been a trustee since 2009.

“Jeff always was our analytical person. He was able to simply things for us so that we made decisions and moved on,” Regalbuto said.

Wolfson was an important player in helping pass the $94 million bond referendum in 2006 for building improvements, Shein said.

“The referendum really made important changes to our facilities. They are markedly different places,” he said.

On July 17, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wolfson and his brother, Robert Wolfson of Massachusetts, agreed to pay more than $14.5 million to settle illegal trading charges against them.

Called naked short selling, they failed to locate shares involved in short sales and did not close out the resulting failures, according to the SEC.

Wolfson resigned the next day, and said he did not sell his Northbrook home at 2879 Woodmere Drive to help pay the settlement, of which his share was $13.4 million.

He also was suspended from working in securities for 12 months.

“I not only sold my home, but also two other properties. I’m not allowed to serve on the board if I don’t have a residence in the district,” Wolfson said in July.

“I bought a spectacular piece of property on the lake in Glencoe for a fraction of what it was worth. I upgraded.”

Wolfson’s new home in Glencoe on Lake Michigan was described as a two-story, five-bedroom and seven-bathroom, 9,692-square foot building on more than one acre of land.

The home, which was built in 1998, was evaluated at $2.4 million in July, according to public records.

His former Northbrook house, which was listed at 6,113 square feet with four and as half bathrooms, was built in 1988 and sits on as little over a half of an acre.

The asking price was $1,150,000, but the actual sale price was not available. Similar homes nearby have not sold for half that much, records also indicated.

Wolfson had been on the Chicago Board Options Exchange since 1980.

As a high school trustee, he served on the finance committee, and his term ends in 2013.

According to the school district’s website, Wolfson is a board member of the YMCA of Greater Chicago, The Children’s Memorial Research Center and the District 225 Foundation, of which he is a founding member.

He also is president and founder of the Linda and Jeffrey Wolfson Foundation.

Pat Krochmal contributed to this article.

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