Sexual harassment in the workplace is a topic of discussion in this year’s presidential race. It is also a part of a federal lawsuit filed last month by a former Community Consolidated School District 15 assistant principal. 

School districts in Illinois by law are required to have both sexual harassment and alcohol and substance abuse policies in place for their employees. However, there is nothing in Illinois School Code mandating districts provide training for employees on how to identify abuses and file a complaint.

Township High School District 211 does not conduct training sessions
for its employees.

Schaumburg District 54, which along with D-15 sends students to D-211, does require its principals to review board policies on these subjects annually with their staff but it too does not conduct formal training sessions regularly.

This makes District 15’s sexual harassment presentation for principals and district level administrators this past August all the more surprising. It sets an example for other districts on how to take a proactive approach to educating employees and avoiding costly litigation.

The presentation conducted by D-15 Director of Personnel and Human Services John Fenton had as one of its objectives to increase the administrators’ awareness of the overall costs of harassment. There is the cost of responding internally to the complaint, possible legal bills, settlement and damanges and employee turnover – a potential liability of $6 million.

There also is the immeasurable costs of bad publicity and damage to the district’s reputation.

Allegations of sexual harassment and alcohol abuse by retired Carl Sandburg Junior High principal Edward Nelson are part of the federal lawsuit filed last month by former assistant principal Elizabeth Wong. She claims she faced retaliation after reporting Nelson and was wrongfully terminated in March 2011.

Superintendent Scott Thompson would not comment on whether the district had ever conducted sexual harassment training in the past citing the pending litigation.

Would it have made a difference in this case? Does it infer the district has a problem with sexual harassment in the workplace? It doesn’t really matter at this point. 

What does matter is how and who put the district in this situation? It certainly isn’t the taxpayer; they just have to pay to clean it up.

Just add – potentially – a few million more to the nearly $10 million dollar deficit next year - and this time it truly has nothing to do with educating students.