The Community High School District 128 school board has appointed a new member after allegations against a teacher of grooming a 15-year-old with Down syndrome caused a leadership shakeup in the district.
Jean Sophie, a retired superintendent from Lake Bluff Elementary School District 65 and Westchester School District 92½ with nearly a half-century of experience in various education positions, was appointed by the board to a seat left vacant when the board president left suddenly earlier this year.
“I love the community,” Sophie said. “We have the diversity to make it feel like the real world.”
The position will go up for election in April 2027, and Sophie said she plans to run for a full term. Although she has extensive credentials, Sophie is joining at a difficult time for the district.
Former board President Jim Baston retired suddenly earlier this year, despite winning a four-year term in 2023. Although no official reason was given for why Batson left with just months of the school year left, his departure came shortly after controversy rocked the district.
A lawsuit filed in March accused Parker Rohde, a teacher at Libertyville High School, of grooming an unidentified 15-year-old girl with Down syndrome, starting during the fall 2024 semester.
Various inappropriate actions are described in the complaint, including Rohde allegedly telling the girl to tell him “I love you,” to hug and “squeeze” him and “conditioning grades or extra credit on Plaintiff’s compliance with these demands.”
Rohde is also accused in the lawsuit of bringing the girl to McDonald’s for lunch about once a week, and a voicemail to a coworker included “disturbing and inappropriate” statements “linking his emotional closeness to female students with green eyes to the ‘presence’ of his deceased mother.”
But at the center of much of the continuing controversy have been accusations about the district’s alleged lack of action when such incidents have surfaced. According to the complaint, the school and district didn’t report Rohde to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, law enforcement or notify the affected families, despite being mandatory reporters.
Public backlash against the district led to Associate Superintendent Briant Kelly being put on administrative leave in early May, followed a few weeks later by the announcement that Baston would be leaving the district.
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Dan Vosnos, a retired high school athletic director with two children, including a 7-year-old with Down syndrome, has spoken during several school board meetings criticizing the school district for its alleged failures to make reports to the IDCFS.
Although Vosnos’ children are not in District 128, he’s done political advocacy work for students with disabilities like his son, and is vice president of development at the National Down Syndrome Society.
“Once I heard the story, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I know how school districts operate. I know how school boards run. I also know that kids like my son, those with disabilities, are the most vulnerable kids in a school district.”
School administrators are mandated reporters, Vosnos said, yet the teacher at the center of the controversy had been given an early retirement and pushed out. The administrators whom he accused of failing to make reports have not been held accountable, he said, calling for criminal charges.
“Obviously there’s a systematic failure. There’s an abuse of power. There’s a lack of accountability,” he said.
Taking action would “send a message” to other teachers, showing that those who fail to report abuse of a student could face criminal responsibility, he said.
“There’s a culture problem within 128 and within Libertyville High School; a culture of protecting educators, a culture of protecting coaches,” Vosnos said. “(District) 128 has failed to hold administrators accountable.”
Vosnos told the board he had started conversations with city and county officials regarding the district’s alleged failures.