Frustrated by two expulsion hearings they call a “witch hunt,” the parents of a 15-year-old football player from Prospect High School are refusing to enroll their son in a Township High School District 214 alternative school for troubled teens.
On Tuesday the boy’s mother said if the school board decides next week to uphold the original ruling to expel the teen, the family will search for a home tutor.
District 214 officials are re-examining their decision to expel the teen, one of three freshman football players barred from school in March following allegations of a sexual attack on a teammate.
On Monday the school board reviewed the matter a second time. Despite the seven-hour hearing, the teen’s parents said they have little faith the board will carve out an equitable decision.
Among the family’s concerns is that a District 214 board member had commented last month that a second expulsion hearing would give the board an opportunity to have the original expulsion ruling upheld.
In May, Cook County Circuit Judge Albert Green reversed the decision by the school board to expel the teen through December, saying the hearing had been jeopardized by hearsay and other unreliable testimony and evidence.
The teen and two other students also face criminal charges in connection with the incident, in which they allegedly held down a teammate in the locker room and sexually assaulted him.
If found delinquent in Juvenile Court on the felony charges of criminal sexual assault, the teens could face punishment ranging from probation to incarceration in a state youth facility. A Sept. 8 hearing date has been set for all three teens.
At the hearing, two football players who were not charged stepped up to testify on behalf of their expelled teammate, saying he did not take part in the alleged incident.
