South Cook News

Former Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau says parents' concerns are justified with the appointment of Century Junior High School vice principal Tremaine Harris, whose Instagram account revealed the 26-year-old in cross-dressing attire.   

Following the announcement of his hire, Harris deleted all of his social media accounts, including LinkedIn. 

But Pekau says the more pressing concern for parents should be the district's hiring practices and its lack of accountability.   

A 2023 photo from Tremaine Harris’s social media shows him dressed in women’s clothing. | Breakthrough Ideas

“The fact that he doesn’t even have the minimum qualifications and they hired him, that’s a problem,” Pekau told South Cook News. “The fact that they pay him more than more qualified people applying for the assistant principal jobs who are female—that’s also a problem. Not only does that look bad, but as someone who was an elected official, I think it opens the district up to lawsuits. It’s just bad all the way around.”

According to the district's job posting, Harris, a former math teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academy of Social Justice in Chicago, was shy one year of the required five years teaching experience for the vice principal role at Century Junior High. 

“In this instance in particular, how surprising is it that they go to hire someone who they require five years of experience only as four?” Pekau said. “They either don't do a background check or they hide the background check from the board.” 

Yet, as the least experienced of three newly appointed assistant principals, Harris was given the highest salary of $90,000, exceeding the pay offered to two more experienced female educators hired at elementary schools in the same district.

“His resume was not part of the legislative text in the board packet, but the others were. It just smells to high heaven," Pekau said. "That's why I said it's bigger than that issue. That issue's getting attention and tons of it, as it should, but it's way bigger than this."

Pekau said the situation is emblematic of long-standing issues within the district’s leadership and a pattern of secrecy by former board president Linda Peckham-Dodge, who remains on the board, and her successor Nicole Browner.  

"They're not putting the students first; they're now putting the needs of the presence of Orland Park first. They do so in secret. I think this board meeting in particular, where this person was hired along with two others, the audio magically went out just for that section," he said. 

Notably, Pekau lost his re-election bid to Peckham-Dodge’s husband, Jim Dodge, a former GOP candidate for state treasurer who was supported by the local Democrat establishment in the 2025 election.  

“There's a lot more stuff going on, but I think it's a systemic problem with this administration of hiding information from the public,” he said. “The resume, the audio, all of that, right, and hiding information from their board members. They can't even all make good decisions. You know, that's it. And the decisions they're making are bad ones. They're not in the interest of the public. They have their own agenda.”

The next Orland School District 135 Board of Education meeting is set for Monday, Aug. 11, at Center School.  

“This used to be a premier school district,” Pekau said. “When my kids went there, it was in the 95th percentile in academics. Now it’s below 50.”