Former student sues Fenton school board, alleging teacher sexually abused her

A former student has filed a lawsuit against the school board of Fenton High School District 100. She says the school board failed to take action to prevent a teacher from sexually abusing her students.
Daily Herald archive photo/2018

A former student is suing the Fenton High School District 100 school board, alleging that it failed to take action against a teacher that could have stopped him from sexually abusing her.

The woman, identified only as Survivor A, attended Fenton High School in Bensenville. She filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

She accuses the school board of knowingly cooperating because the man’s behavior had been reported since 2009, but the district continued to employ the man and even promoted him.

“The defendant aided (the man) by refusing to reprimand, punish, expel and/or report him, and by knowingly providing (the man) the ideal location, environment and atmosphere to commit the same horrific solicitation, harassment and sexual abuse against numerous students,” the lawsuit states.

The board fired the man in March.

The lawsuit alleges that the student was sexually harassed, sexually assaulted and sexually abused by the teacher. And despite being made aware of “numerous allegations” about the teacher’s conduct, the school board did not fire him, the lawsuit says.

The teacher is named in the lawsuit, but the Daily Herald did not identify him because no criminal charges have been filed against him.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an order requiring the school district to implement policies, procedures, training and oversight to prevent sexual solicitation, harassment and assault.

A message was left with district officials seeking comment.

According to the district, it received several anonymous tips in 2015 and 2016 about alleged assaults in 2011. The students denied the allegations. The tips were examined by the police and investigators from the public prosecutor’s office and classified as unfounded, according to the district.

The district said it disciplined the teacher in 2011 and 2012 for inappropriate communication with students.