TTHS SD205 partners with children’s hospital on sexual abuse curriculum. Is it enough?
Thornton Township High Schools District 205’s new program will integrate sexual abuse prevention training into health classes and offer after-school guidance sessions for youth.
In September, the Thornton Township High Schools District 205 board approved a new partnership with La Rabida Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Advocacy Center, a nonprofit focused on fighting sexual and other forms of abuse, to implement a comprehensive sexual abuse prevention curriculum.
The memorandum of understanding will integrate the prevention programming into the district’s health classes and offer additional after-school guidance sessions for students, according to the district.
For Trina Downs, a parent of two D205 students, it’s not enough. She attended the meeting holding two signs with one word written on them: “danger.” For months, she’s complained one of her daughter’s has been marked absent from class at Thornridge High School even though she’s present, Downs said.
But her concerns extend far beyond chronic absenteeism. Downs is skeptical of D205’s partnership with La Rabida and CAC. D205 has a documented culture of teachers sexually assaulting students. And parents like Downs believe the district isn’t doing enough to keep the incidents from recurring.
A former Thornton Township High School gym teacher who both impregnated a former student and helped her secure abortions—twice. A parent caught a Thornridge softball coach sexually assaulting a player in their own home.
“I’m not understanding with the past history of sexual abuse of students, why that wouldn’t [already] be offered on PowerSchool,” Downs said, referring to the online tool used for students and parents to track attendance and grades.
She also recommended a sexual abuse hotline.
In 2021, Illinois passed “Faith’s Law,” inspired by a student who was sexually assaulted by a teacher and later found out that staff suspected that teacher of inappropriate behavior but failed to report them. The law aims to bolster definitions of “grooming,” reporting requirements, and define staff-student boundaries.
Union president leaving D205
Thornwood High School teacher Dwayne Bearden announced his resignation as D205 Faculty Association president after eight years, blaming lack of collaboration and shared vision between him and the board.
He’s also resigning from teaching, now working for the Illinois Education Association, a statewide education union. Bearden expressed his disappointment with the lack of collaboration and shared vision within the district that evening.
“It’s disappointing that we cannot be on the same page. We could have achieved so much here,” Bearden said.
He, school district leadership, local and state officials put together “a slate,” Bearden said, in 2014. It aimed “to make children first and then assure that the association would have a strong voice within the district,” Bearden said. “I believed that then, and I believe that now.”
Bearden led the union during transitory and tumultuous times for the district. That included the COVID-19 pandemic, ratifying two faculty association contracts during that time, a transition to remote learning, and an ongoing teacher shortage.
But he praised the implementation of more diversity within the union’s committees and district joint committees.
The 2015 election year marked major leadership turnover for the district, in which Graham and several others first won their seats on the board. But Bearden’s comments—and exit—underscore a larger history of tensions between district leadership and teachers.
That history includes frustrations over nepotism on the D205 school board during the notorious Kenneth Williams presidency, the questionable spending that ensued, and teacher strikes.
“I am hopeful that you will continue to champion these values and ensure that our shared visions for the district become a reality,” Bearden said, addressing the board president Nina Graham, directly.
“We wish Godspeed and may He always be at your back,” Graham said. District leadership seemed warmly receptive to Bearden’s statement, with Ray Banks hugging Bearden. Graham was seen holding Bearden’s arm as they spoke privately.
Thornwood science teacher Mark Danielson has been appointed union president, according to the FA’s website.
Upgrading infrastructure
In a move to continue upgrading its aging facilities, D205 has approved a bond resolution to sell $35 million in bonds to finance the second phase of its capital improvement projects. The board announced its plan in August.
The bond resolution follows the completion of the district’s first $12 million phase of work last year.
The board approved its 2025 fiscal year budget at a special board meeting in late September.
The next regular board meeting is tonight at 6:30p.m. at Thornridge in Dolton.
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