Former Antioch teacher pleads not guilty to computer tampering
A former Antioch High School teacher has pleaded not guilty in Lake County circuit court to charges she illegally gained access to computerized records and changed the grades of more than 60 students, officials said.
Sara Glashagel, who resigned as a special-education teacher at the high school after the computer tampering charges came to light in November, made the plea Monday. She is due back in court Feb. 21 for a pretrial hearing, Lake County circuit court officials said.
Police officials said Glashagel, 27, of Elk Grove Village, admitted before her arrest on Nov. 18 that she tampered with the grades of 64 students over a five-day period in September.
District officials said Glashagel obtained an administrative password and began changing grades of students from an outside computer.
Police officials said they tracked down her IP address and questioned her in November, where she admitted to changing the grades.
She was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor count of computer tampering but has vowed to fight the charges in court.
If found guilty of the misdemeanor charge, she could be sentenced up to one year in jail and fined $2,500.
Her husband, Antioch varsity football coach Brian Glashagel, told authorities he did not know about the alleged grade tampering until he was questioned by police. School officials also said the football coach was not involved in the incident and it was done without his knowledge.
Authorities said more than 40 of the 64 student grades changed involved players on the school’s football team, officials said.
District policy is that students with a grade-point average below 1.5 are not eligible to participate in sports or other extracurricular activities. Officials said no students on any ineligibility list participated in any extracurricular activities due to the grade tampering.