Burr Ridge District Gets Sex Harassment Complaint, But It Wasn't 'Formal': Lawyer

BURR RIDGE, IL – Pleasantdale School District 107 last year heard a complaint that an employee sexually harassed another, but the complaint did not reach "formal" status, the district's lawyer says.

On Dec. 15, Superintendent Dave Palzet forwarded an email that he received from the district's attorney, Stephanie Jones of the Kriha Boucek law firm, to a resident who questioned the handling of the issue.

For months, resident Megan McMillin has asked the Burr Ridge-based district about its contention that it had not received a "formal" complaint.

In the email to Palzet, Jones said she spoke by Zoom with a former employee who aired a sexual harassment complaint.

"As you know, school districts receive complaints on a regular basis," Jones said. "We use the processes in our policies to help guide whether a complaint is treated as a formal complaint or something other than a formal complaint. It is certainly easiest if the complainant reduces their complaint to writing or, in the alternative, tells us that a complaint is a formal complaint that they want investigated."

Jones said she asked the former employee about filing a complaint under school board policies. The lawyer said she was told the former employee would think about it.

"I had a follow-up conversation to answer questions about different processes and was again told they would think about it," Jones said in the email. "To date, I have not received word that a formal complaint was being filed."

Under the procedure, Jones said the district recommends that a person affirmatively inform officials that their complaint needs to be treated formally, even if the person doesn't want to reduce it to writing.

"Without the confirmation that they want to pursue the process of investigation, we risk proceeding with a complaint without a supporting witness, which causes questions of due process for whoever they are accusing," Jones said.

Asked about the situation Tuesday, Palzet said in an interview, "At the end of the day, we have to follow the process, and this is the process that is under federal law."

In an email in early December, McMillin, the resident, told Palzet that she was not seeking protected details on personnel. Rather, she said she questioned why complaints that "clearly met the threshold for the grievance process were never elevated to 'formal.'"