Fenton school board facing second suit over allegations about former teacher

The Fenton High School District 100 school board is facing a second lawsuit accusing it of failing to protect a student from a former teacher and coach she says sexually harassed her.

“Survivor B” filed the suit last week in DuPage County Circuit Court. It seeks an unspecified amount of money as damages. It also wants the judge to order the school district to institute and enforce effective policies and procedures to “prevent staff from grooming, harassing and assaulting students.”

“We don’t have any further comment at this time, as our attorneys are reviewing this new information,” the district said in a written statement attributed to Superintendent Samuel Bentsen. The district also distributed the statement to district families May 18, when it notified them about the new lawsuit.

Another former student filed a federal lawsuit involving similar allegations in June 2024. It is still pending.

The ex-teacher is not named as a primary defendant in either lawsuit. The Daily Herald is not naming the man because he has not been charged with a crime.

The Bensenville-based school district hired the man as a teacher in 2007 and terminated him in 2024.

The new suit

The new lawsuit alleges that the district “willfully and wantonly permitted Fenton Community High School District to become a hunting ground for (the teacher) to attempt and commit sex crimes at will against the plaintiff and other children.”

The suit claims the district is responsible for what happened because, instead of appropriately disciplining the teacher, it repeatedly promoted him, even though reports of inappropriate conduct with students were made as early as 2011.

The lawsuit states Survivor B is a person of color who felt racially profiled at the school and had difficulty making friends due to her race. It claims the man, who was her track coach, took advantage of this to groom her.

He began making sexual comments to her in 2011, the lawsuit alleges. It also claims he would tightly hug her, without her permission. That led her to quit the team, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that he also grabbed her inappropriately, “in the guise of” pulling her away from a fight in 2012.

Criminal background?

According to the lawsuit, the district didn’t do a criminal background check when it hired the man. If officials had, they would have learned he was convicted in Cook County in 1999 for disorderly conduct, and pleaded guilty in 2002 and 2003 to a total of seven counts of retail theft, the lawsuit states.

The Daily Herald confirmed the dispositions of the 1999 and 2003 cases in court records; the result of the 2002 case is unclear.

The lawsuit contends the convictions show the man was not suitable to be teaching children because he was not mature, trustworthy or able to control impulses.

“The district’s practice has always been to conduct background checks prior to hiring new employees,” district spokesman Rick Kambic said in response to a question.

The district said it disciplined the teacher in 2011 and 2012 for inappropriate communications with students.

In December 2016, the district received two anonymous tips alleging the employee was in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. Administrators referred this to the school resource officer, the Department of Children and Family Services and the DuPage County Children’s Advocacy Center, which is run by the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. The teacher and the students denied the allegation, and the agencies deemed the report unfounded.