Chicago Public School system removes 2 principals amid investigation into how sexual abuse allegations handled

Simeon High School (8147 S Vincennes Ave) by Eric Allix Rogers

We've shared a few piece with regards to sexual abuse allegations within Chicago Public Schools. For our purposes we're just going to focus on the removal of the principal of nearby Simeon High School over sexual abuse allegations by a school volunteer:

Sheldon House, the principal of Simeon Career Academy, was removed amid a newly disclosed allegation of sexual abuse lodged against an unnamed school volunteer. District officials said that allegation was discovered during an audit of “systemic issues” in the school’s background check process.
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“As a result of district-led investigations into allegations of sexual abuse, two CPS principals were removed from their positions today due to initial findings that suggest they did not effectively safeguard their students,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said in a statement.

“Investigations into both cases remain ongoing, and we will keep the school communities updated as this process moves forward,” she said.

The district announced the administrators’ removal barely more than a day before a scheduled Chicago Board of Education vote to change how CPS investigates allegations of sexual misconduct by adults against students, as well as new practices that would require employees to inform child welfare authorities and supervisors of “any interactions or behaviors which suggest that an adult has or had an inappropriately intimate relationship with a child or may be grooming a child,” even if the employee does not have “reasonable suspicion” of whether any abuse occurred.
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At Simeon, CPS officials said they launched an internal review of “management practices designed to keep students safe,” which occurred amid a Tribune investigation that documented the school’s failure to conduct a mandated criminal background check before making Gerald Gaddy an assistant coach of the boys wrestling and girls track teams starting in 2010.
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CPS officials said the Simeon audit found “systemic issues” in the school’s handling of volunteer background checks, while uncovering an unspecified, new allegation of sexual abuse by an unidentified Simeon volunteer.

The recent allegation “was not handled in accordance with CPS policy,” according to the district. The volunteer is now barred from the school, and the allegation is under investigation.

CPS said it selected Patricia Woodson, a retired former principal, to lead the school until a new principal is selected by Simeon’s local school council.

 Hat-tip Newsalert

Will Outrage Lead to Political Change in Chicago?

If you followed our twitter feed over the weekend we shared a number of tweets with regards to an emerging sexual abuse scandal at Chicago Public Schools. I think one of those tweets has reports an incident that took place at nearby Simeon High School involving a track coach.

This tweet found at the Newsalert blog yesterday is from Dan Proft who offered his comments.

Is this enough? Is systemic sexual abuse of children in CPS enough for Chicagoans to hold their political leadership accountable for the first time in my lifetime? I ask because I honestly don't know the answer. https://t.co/1Pml7Oj594

— Dan Proft (@DanProft) June 6, 2018

The title for this post comes from the Newsalert blog and Steve Bartin added this simple statement "Don't bet on it". And I'm more in line with Dan Proft - who for those of you who don't know is a long-time Republican activist - neither of us knows the answer to that question.

It's very serious to talk about sexual abuse of public school students. And let's go further we're learning more and more about sexual harassment in state government. Just yesterday news broke of allegations of sexual harrassment towards state house speaker Madigan's chief of staff Tom Mapes which sparked Mr. Mapes to resign. Regardless who knows if this will result in long term political changes.

Cops questioning man in Chatham sexual assault

Chicago Breaking News (from the Chicago Tribune) reports another story of serious crime in our area:

Chicago police were questioning a man following a sexual assault on a woman this morning in the city's Chatham neighborhood.

The 23-year-old woman was attacked at about 12:15 a.m. in the 200 block of East 87th Street, according to authorities.

Early reports indicate that the attacker first attempted to rob the woman at gunpoint before sexually assaulting her then fleeing on foot, police said. The woman's husband called 911 to the assault.

Officers in the area quickly took the man into custody and were questioning him at Area South headquarters, said Officer Ron Gaines, a police spokesman.

The woman was taken to Advocate Trinity Hospital for treatment, authorities said.

This morning's assault is about a mile north of where a woman was sexually assaulted in Abbott Park while waiting at a bus stop late last week. Police issued a community alert and a composite photo of the attacker.

Police weren't saying whether they were questioning the man in custody about Saturday's attack.

Cops questioning man in Chatham sexual assault

Please be careful out there. Walk in groups (especially at night) and report suspicious activity.

Man shot, then killed by hit-run vehicle

The beginning of the story...

Chicago police Sunday were continuing their search for the person who shot a convicted sex offender and struck him with a vehicle near a lounge in the city's Chatham neighborhood.

An autopsy Sunday showed that the man -- identified as Howard Hodges, 34 -- died from injuries caused by the vehicle, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office.

Two other men also were shot in the incident, which happened near 83rd Street and Vincennes Avenue. Those victims did not suffer life-threatening injuries, police said.

The full story is here at Chicago Breaking News.

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