Cops probing racist call to Mundelein teacher

Weeks after Fremont Intermediate School teacher Carolyn Burno received a racially charged voice-mail message at school, the veteran educator remains disturbed by the call.

"It leaves me feeling sad," said Burno, the only black teacher in Fremont Elementary District 79, which serves part of the Mundelein area. "It really did hurt."

The message was alarming enough for the Lake County sheriff's office to launch a criminal investigation. No arrests have been made yet, but police hope phone records can help them find the source of the call.

Even if they locate the caller, authorities are not sure what type of crime the message represents.

"We'll have to see whether it meets the predicate elements of a hate crime," Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said. "Ultimately, that's up to the state's attorney's office."

A third-grade teacher who's been with District 79 for 11 years, Burno received the anonymous call about 9 a.m. June 9, the last day of class for her students.

With kids in the room, she retrieved the digital recording when she saw the message-indicator light on her phone blinking. What she heard was shocking.

The seven-second message, which has been reviewed by the Daily Herald, contains racial epithets and other vulgarities. In it, the unidentified caller tells Burno to "get out" before hanging up.

"I couldn't believe I was hearing this," said Burno, whose students didn't hear the recording. "I felt chilled. I felt scared."

Burno listened to the message again, then played it for a fellow teacher, administrators and her husband. She called police next.

Burno believes she was targeted because she is the district's only black teacher, a situation she's been in before.

"To use that kind of language - I've never (experienced) that," she said.

Investigators have a digital recording of the message. The caller sounded male and may have been a younger teen, they said.

A subpoena has been issued to the school's phone company, TDS Metrocom, for phone records. Investigators hope to trace the call to a specific telephone, then determine who had access to it.

District 79 Superintendent Rick Taylor called the incident "unbelievable."

"It's uncalled for," he said. "It is something that we as a society condemn."

Taylor described Burno as one of the district's top teachers.

"She's phenomenal with students ... and a great communicator with parents," he said. "You couldn't ask for a more dynamic or dedicated teacher."

Burno said the hateful message won't scare her away from her job. It will, however, make her more cautious around the school.

"I am going to have to watch myself and what I do," she said.

Anyone with information about the case can call Lake County sheriff's detective Andrea Usry at (847) 377-4250.