Batavia keeps lunch distributor that hired sex offender

The Batavia school district plans to continue its contract with a cafeteria firm that had a convicted sex offender working for it.

"To dismiss Sodexho would jeopardize the delivery of 2,400 lunches each day," Superintendent Jack Barshinger said. He said the firm had agreed to go "above and beyond what Illinois requires" in terms of future background checks.

Sodexho will use temporary workers only in emergency situations, go through Batavia's more complete system of background checks, and will require all workers to go through the process to get district ID cards, according to Sodexho district manager Ken Heidrich.

Gary Gasper, 41, of Elgin was arrested at Rotolo Middle School on Nov. 12. He was employed by Labor Ready Temporary Labor, a Sodexho subcontractor. He had worked at the middle school on three days and at the high school on one day.

He now faces four felony charges of unlawful presence in a school zone.

He was convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a 9-year-old girl in Wisconsin in 1992. He was released from prison in 2000.

Gasper did not work at the middle school during lunch hours, and after going through hours of surveillance video and multiple interviews, Barshinger said the district had no evidence that he ever had access to students.

This is the first year of the district's contract with Sodexho. It is scheduled to be reviewed in March of next year.

Barshinger said the firm had erred in not getting prior approval from the district to have substitute workers in the cafeteria.

Board member Jayne Resek said she was apprehensive about ever allowing temporary workers in the schools, but Barshinger said they would be used only in situations that lunch service would be disrupted otherwise.

Heidrich, of Sodexho, apologized to the board.

"We certainly understand it's unacceptable to the Batavia school district, and it's also unacceptable to Sodexho," he said.

He said the company had revamped its background check system nationwide.

Board President Ron Link said he hoped the district could put the issue behind them.

"This was a situation where it was very, very fortunate that things were not worse," he said.