Fenton HS board to discuss 'affirming administrative leave' for superintendent at special meeting
Now-former Fenton High School staffer accused of inappropriate conduct dating back to 2011
BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) -- There are new developments Wednesday in the ongoing controversy over how Fenton High School District 100 handled allegations a now-former staffer engaged in inappropriate conduct with a student.
According to the district website, the school board has called a special meeting for Friday, and the agenda includes an item that says, "Affirming the Administrative Leave for Superintendent James Ongtengco."
The meeting comes as parents and Benvsenville village leaders have repeatedly called for the district superintendent to resign.
ABC7 spoke with a school administrator Wednesday who did not confirm the resignation, but said the meeting agenda "speaks for itself."
At a Tuesday night meeting, Bensenville Village President Frank DeSimone reiterated his calls for Ongtengco to resign.
A now-former Fenton High School staff member, fired last week, is accused of inappropriate conduct. Those allegations date back more than a decade.
The school district and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have shared conflicting details as to who knew what information in the investigation and when that information was received.
Ongtengco claims in December 2016, the district contacted DCFS regarding allegations that the staffer had sexual contact with a student, which, he said, were determined to be unfounded.
But DCFS said the department was not notified about the employee until after March of last year.
However, the school district, maintained its stance on Tuesday that it did contact DCFS in December of 2016. The district provided documents to ABC7 outlining, what they said, is that 2016 communication and a determination by DCFS that those claims were unfounded.
Later Tuesday night, DCFS said the paperwork the school district sent to ABC7 was not produced by DCFS, and they maintain they were not contacted about these allegations until March of 2023.
So far, no charges have been have filed against the former staffer.
