Published January 13, 2015
If the Sandridge District 172 School Board has its way, former principal Leroy Coleman, who was secretly videotaped having sex with one of his teachers will be barred from working at any Illinois school.
The lame duck board adopted a resolution at its meeting Friday night to file a complaint with the regional superintendent of schools for Cook County, demanding that Coleman be stripped of his teaching and administrative certificate be suspended. After that, school officials will go to the state to seek permanent revocation of his teaching and administrative certificate.
Under the school code, those privileges can be suspended or revoked based on immorality or unprofessional conduct.
The board said it might also seek the same penalties against the teacher who appeared in the videotape, Janet Lofton.
Coleman and Lofton resigned last week. Teacher's aide Anjayla Reed also resigned last week after the superintendent contacted her about allegations that she appears on a separate portion of the tape hugging and touching Coleman.
At its meeting, the District 172 board also named former principal Gloria Archbold as interim principal and said she will come out of retirement to run the school through the end of the year.
About 100 parents showed up for the board meeting.
Three incumbent board members lost their seats in Tuesday's election, which came only days after copies of a 2 1/2-hour DVD anonymously showed up in some district parents' mailboxes.
John Izzo, an attorney for the district, has questioned the release of the months-old footage just before the election.
One copy viewed by The Associated Press shows a woman and a man inside an office hugging, kissing and engaged in different sex acts. A separate part of the tape, apparently from a different time, shows another woman hugging and touching the same man.
Cook County Sheriff's police are trying to determine who made the video and are investigating whether a crime was committed. Authorities believe the tape was made by a recording device attached to a heating vent in the principal's office.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/illinois-school-board-wants-teaching-ban-for-principal-in-sex-scandal