(PatriotWise.com) – According to a report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for Chicago Public Schools, in the last four years, hundreds of teachers and officials inappropriately targeted and assaulted students or engaged in policy violations.
Since October 2018, the OIG substantiated a total of 302 investigations into such misconduct. For the 2021-22 school year alone, the OIG substantiated over 70 out of 600 misconduct complaints. Of those, criminal charges were filed in just sixteen cases.
According to the OIG, one teacher, who inappropriately targeted and assaulted a 17-year-old student three times, was charged with multiple counts of assault. Despite the evidence provided by the student and the social media records, the teacher was acquitted on all counts in November.
A former JROTC staff member engaged in a year-long intimate relationship with one student when she was 16-17 years old, according to the OIG report. The girl was also plied with alcohol and illegal drugs. Over the course of their “relationship,” the pair exchanged hundreds of inappropriate phone calls and text messages.
When the JROTC staff member realized he might be under investigation, he allegedly threatened to kill the girl and her family. He was later sentenced to time served and four years probation after pleading guilty to assault and criminal abuse.
Another high school teacher allegedly exchanged 4,000 text messages, including 400 in a single day, with a female student.
A high school gym teacher was investigated for exposing himself to a female student.
An administrator from one Chicago charter school took a high school junior on trips to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, London, Ibiza, and the Bahamas, the OIG report said. The administrator resigned after the OIG recommended he be fired.
In a statement to Fox News, Mary Fergus, the executive director of media relations for Chicago Public Schools said the district takes seriously its responsibility to “serve our families with integrity” to “address individuals who breach CPS policies” and “hold them accountable.”
Fergus said the district has taken action against those who committed wrongdoing.
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