An internal investigation substantiated more than 300 allegations of grooming and other sexual misconduct
Internal investigators from Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third largest school district in the United States, substantiated allegations that hundreds of teachers and administrators prepared and sexually assaulted their students. them, a report by the inspector general revealed.
More than 600 complaints of sexual misconduct were investigated during the 2021-2022 school year, and the allegations are believed to be well-founded in about half of those cases, the school’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said. zone said earlier this month in its report. annual report. The office doubled the number of complaints it investigated from a year earlier under an initiative to speed up the processing of its complaints. “extremely high case volume.” The number of new cases opened increased 38% year-on-year.
In one case, a high school teacher “engaged in a systematic pattern of grooming behavior with female students,” the report said. He engages in intimate contact with students and openly solicits sexual acts, such as asking a girl to recruit a classmate for a threesome.
Another complaint concerns a high school teacher who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old student three times after grooming her with inappropriate touches and comments, the OIG said. He was charged criminally, but a jury acquitted him last November. The allegations were corroborated by text messages to students. In a note, the teacher begged her not to report the assaults, the report said.
In another case, a former staff member committed a criminal offence of sexual abuse after being accused of having sex with a student over the course of a year, starting when she was 16 years old. He also provided the girl with alcohol and instructed her to buy marijuana for him. . The OIG said he threatened to kill the student and her family when he discovered he might be under investigation.
Some complaints against teachers were mishandled. For example, the OIG said staffers did not notify administrators when a high school student reported that a teacher had exposed her penis to her, instead making excuses for him. When she posted a notice about the incident on social media, a younger student alleged that the teacher had sent her a video of him masturbating.
An investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by two staff members at a CPS military academy quickly expanded as new allegations emerged. The investigation ultimately substantiated allegations of misconduct by 13 staff members, including the former principal, the OIG said.
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