$500,000 bond set for Schaumburg teacher charged with battery

Bond was set at $500,000 today for a teacher at Frost Junior High School in Schaumburg whom police have charged with aggravated battery and unlawful restraint over alleged incidents involving his students.

Patrick E. McCarthy, 30, of 712 Longview Ave. in Palatine, was charged with three counts of aggravated battery and one count of unlawful restraint. He appeared this morning in Rolling Meadows bond court.

McCarthy, a special education teacher, has been accused of four separate criminal incidents during this school year: allegedly pushing a student into a wall; pushing a student into a filing equipment; forcing a student onto a piece of gym equipment and tying a student to a chair.

Schaumburg police said school staff members alerted the principal Tuesday to their concerns about McCarthy.

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 officials immediately removed McCarthy from classroom duties, placing him on administrative leave.

The principal contacted the Department of Children and Family Services and Schaumburg police, both of whom began simultaneous but independent investigations.

School officials contacted parents of students in McCarthy's classroom by telephone, and sent a letter to all parents of students at the school by mail.