Alleged 'Grooming' At Evanston School Led To Teacher's Firing In Lake Forest

LAKE FOREST, IL — The teacher fired from Lake Forest School District 67 over allegations he sexually groomed a middle school girl and lied about it had previously been asked to resign from a job at Evanston/Skokie School District 65, according to documents obtained by Patch.

Paul Brock, a tenured math teacher at Deer Path Middle School until termination last month, also taught 6th grade math at Haven Middle School in the Evanston district shortly after graduating from college, according to his resume.

Brock was asked to resign from District 65 more than a dozen years ago based on grooming and inappropriate conduct with a student there, according to a bill of particulars the District 67 board provided Brock when it initiated the formal process of firing him.

"You repeatedly violated staff-student boundaries through verbal and electronic communication with the Student in order to establish a romantic or sexual relationship with the Student while employed at District 65," the board notified Brock.

"In 2008 and 2009, you communicated socially with the Student via Facebook. You invited the Student to hang out at your house. You informed the Student that you went to graduation because of her and that she 'was beautiful.' You also discussed that a physical relationship would be okay when she was of age," according to the board.

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"In 2008 or 2009," the bill of particulars continued, "you invited the Student to go shopping at Victoria’s Secret and that she could buy whatever she wanted."

In August, the mother of a District 67 student contacted Lake Forest school officials to ask that her child be taken out of Brock's class because she had heard that he had left District 65 over grooming allegations, according to the board.

District officials launched an investigation and, during a Sept. 12 meeting with administrators, Brock claimed that his resignation was "mutual" and he "only indicated that District 65 was concerned with you communicating with students via non-district means," the bill of particulars alleged.

During another meeting with administrators on Oct. 23, Brock "lied or failed to forthrightly report" specific facts, claiming he did not know the parent who reported him to the district, denying that he ever communicated with the girl about her dating life or discussed plans to visit her at college or be together with her when she became of age.

"It is the opinion of the Board that the Charge and Particulars set forth above constitute irremediable conduct and cause for termination of your employment as a tenured teacher in the District," it said. "The Board finds it is in the best interests of the District to terminate your employment with the District."

In a letter from February 2011, a District 65 human resources assistant provided written verification that Brock was employed by the district. But it said only that he was hired in August 2006 and resigned in June 2009.

The HR assistant does not say Brock was asked to resign due to allegations of grooming a student, although he provided her phone number in case further information was needed. It could not be determined whether Lake Forest school officials ever asked if he had been asked to resign while the subject of an investigation.

"Because his original hiring occurred in 2009, we do not know," said Lake Forest Schools spokesperson Melissa Oakley. "All candidates upon hire are asked if they resigned to avoid termination and his application indicated no — which we now know was a lie."

District 65 spokesperson Melissa Messinger told Patch there was no immediately available information about Brock's time at the Evanston district, as there are no longer any administrators or board members from the time still around.

"This being said, based on our limited current knowledge of the situation, we find the allegations to be highly inappropriate and deeply disturbing," Messinger said in an email.

"Our current administrative team and school board take allegations of sexual misconduct or harassment with the utmost seriousness. We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive environment for all members of our community and have clear processes to date to promptly address concerns of this nature," she said. "Any staff members found to have engaged in any form of sexual misconduct will be subject to disciplinary actions up to and including discharge in accordance with Board Policy."

When Brock was seeking the job in Lake Forest, he provided a hire date of November 2005 and said his reason for leaving District 65 was "looking for a change."

His correspondence with District 67 HR staff indicates that Brock also sought to resign from District 67 without the allegations being publicly shared.

"I was under the impression that the charges would be shared in a closed door meeting and that only the results of the vote would be shared publicly," said Brock, who did not return a message seeking comment following the board's move to terminate him.

Brock was suspended starting on Nov. 15. Because he declined to pursue a hearing contesting his dismissal with the Illinois State Board of Education, he was officially fired on Dec. 2, according to a District 67 spokesperson.

Under reforms that took effect last year, Illinois law enforcement agencies must report officers who resign or retire after being served notice that they are under investigation to a state board — but there is no similar statewide database of teachers who resign in lieu of termination.

Earlier: Teacher 'Sexually Groomed' Student At Prior Job, Superintendent Says