Elmhurst D205 Retaliated Against Teacher: Complaint

ELMHURST, IL – The superintendent of Elmhurst School District 205 retaliated against a teacher last year after the teacher took her complaint about discipline to the school board, according to a union complaint.

In late August, the Elmhurst Teachers Council filed a grievance with a state agency against the district.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the complaint from the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. It involves Kelly DeLoriea, an English teacher at York High School.

In August, the board voted publicly to issue a "notice to remedy" against DeLoriea and withdrew a previous one-day suspension.

The board said she shared personally identifying information about a student on social media. The student's parent is Tom Chavez, a local conservative activist who is critical of DeLoriea's lessons.

In a post to a social media group in February 2023, DeLoriea said Chavez's child was not in her class, despite what he said, according to the grievance.

The union said DeLoriea did not identify the student by name.

After the post, DeLoriea realized that a child of Chavez's attended her American Language and Composition class for a couple of days in August 2021 before transferring out, the union said.

DeLoriea wrote another post clarifying herself, referring to the student who was in her class for two days.

In response, Chavez complained about the post to the district. Afterward, the school's principal met with DeLoriea and decided to suspend her for a day, scheduled for March 8.

On March 7, through her union representative, DeLoriea said she would appeal her suspension to the school board.

Despite the appeal, the district did not take timely action to postpone the suspension, which DeLoriea served as scheduled, according to the grievance.

On May 9, the board heard the appeal and upheld the suspension.

A week later, DeLoriea filed a grievance under the union contract.

Superintendent Keisha Campbell denied the grievance and said the board would hear it, according to the complaint.

In retaliation for the grievance to the board, Campbell recommended the board withdraw the suspension and that the board issue a notice to remedy instead, the union said. That is essentially a public reprimand. It stated DeLoriea might be fired for similar conduct in the future.

Under state law, a teacher has no right to challenge a notice to remedy before an arbitrator or any other independent body, the grievance said.

"The issue of the Notice to Remedy was directly caused by the pursuit of the grievance in this case," the complaint said. "It punished DeLoriea for pursuing a grievance. The procedure employed by the Board will also discourage employees from filing grievances in the future."

The union is asking the labor board to require the district to rescind the notice to remedy and post a message stating it will not issue notices of remedy to teachers as a result of the filing of grievances.

DeLoriea, who has taught in the district for 17 years, has been rated as excellent by many different administrators and has earned highly positive reviews from students in her classes, according to the grievance.

Her classes include American Studies. That course covers the history of slavery and racism, the struggle of workers to receive a fair share of the value of their work and the experiences of many different Americans, the union said.

DeLoriea strives to provide a fair and balanced view of the development of the United States, the complaint said.

Since 2021, however, DeLoriea's American Studies curriculum has been "loudly and incessantly criticized by right-wing parents and outside commentators," the union said.

They allege her class includes critical race theory and a liberal bias and involves indoctrination, the grievance said.

DeLoriea, union representatives and the school district did not return messages for comment.