Shooting suspect teaching in Lyons
School District 103 puts man on leave pending probe
A teacher charged with attempted murder in Tinley Park last year has been working since August at a middle school in Lyons School District 103, school officials said.
Andres Rodriguez, 40, who was dismissed from Cicero School District 99 over the summer after his pending criminal case came to light, was hired in Lyons as a sixthgrade English Language Arts teacher on Aug. 28 at a salary of $52,822, school board meeting minutes show.
He is accused of shooting a man seven times, including several times while standing over him after he’d fallen to the ground, following a traffic dispute in the 6900 block of 173rd Place in Tinley Park in July 2017.
Rodriguez, whose attorney argued his actions were made in self-defense, was released on $500,000 bond the day after his arrest, court records show.
Neither he nor his attorney immediately returned a request for comment.
District 103 interim Superintendent Patrick Patt said he’d only learned of Rodriguez’s pending criminal case on Thursday, and had initiated an immediate review of the situation.
The district addressed the matter in a letter to parents and staff Friday, but did not use Rodriguez’s name or provide specifics of his case.
“We want to assure you that the safety and security of our students and staff is a top priority,” the statement reads. “To that end, we have placed the staff member on administrative leave until we are able to conclude our review.”
The statement goes on to say that “legal constraints”
may prevent the district from sharing additional information about the situation, but that the district would attempt to keep the community “updated to the greatest extent possible.”
Patt said Friday that he couldn’t comment much beyond what was released in the district’s statement, but did say that Rodriguez had been subjected to a background check before being hired.
“All I can really tell you is that we do background checks on all new employees, and when nothing shows up we presume everything is clear,” he said.
When asked whether the district might consider modifying its process for conducting background checks going forward, he said he believed there were always ways to improve the district’s processes.
Human resources director Kimberly Ontiveros declined tocommentonRodriguez’s hire.
Jorge Torres, the only District 103 board member who voted against the Aug. 28 consent agenda that included Rodriguez’s hiring, saidhewas concerned about the district’s vetting process and planned to raise the issue at Monday’s board meeting.
“This is infuriating tome,” he said. “I’m on the board and I’m a taxpayer and a former parent of a student in the district, so this is really concerning to me and alarming.”
As of late Friday morning, Rodriguez still appeared in a staff directory on District 103’s George Washington Middle School website. His online staff listing, which is accompanied by a photograph, identifies him as a sixth-grade English Language Arts teacher.
Rodriguez was employed by Joliet School District 86 when he was charged with attempted murder last year, but had quietly accepted a new job in Cicero School District 99 about a month before the shooting, records show.
Joliet placed him on paid administrative leave a monthlaterandforbadehim from setting foot at the junior high where he’d taught eighth-grade language arts, according to a letter in Rodriguez’s disciplinary file.
While on leave in Joliet, Rodriguez began working the job he’d previously been offered in District 99.
Payroll records show he started teaching at Unity Junior High in Cicero on Aug. 29, 2017, just 12 days after being placedonleave in Joliet and less than six weeks after bonding out of Cook County Jail.
Records show that Joliet continued paying Rodriguez even after he began teaching in Cicero last year, apparently unaware that he’d accepted another job. Between both districts, Rodriguez received more than $90,000 last school year before Joliet became aware hewas teaching elsewhere and cut off his biweekly payments, records show.
He served as an internal substitute and after-school detention proctor in Cicero for six months before district officials there claim to have become aware of his “situation.”
Cicero placed Rodriguez on paid leave in mid-February, and the board moved to dismiss him at its April 18 meeting, effective June 4, records show.
A few months later, he was hired in Lyons, minutes show.
Despite the felony charges he faces, Rodriguez’ educator’s license remains in good standing and he is legally permitted to continue teaching, records show.
While the Illinois State Board of Education may suspend an educator’s license for commission of crimes like attempted murder, it cannot take action until the educator has been convicted of the crime, ISBE spokeswoman Jaclyn Matthews said earlier this year.
Rodriguez is due back in courtNov. 28.