Elmhurst Schools Quietly Settle With Teacher

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205's board publicly voted to reprimand a York High School teacher in August 2023.

But through a settlement last fall, the district quietly let the reprimand retroactively lapse at the end of the 2024-25 school year.

It is unclear why the board did not vote on the settlement, given that it involved its previous decision to issue the "notice to remedy" to York teacher Kelly DeLoriea.

The district's spokesperson, Tonya Daniels, did not respond to Patch's inquiry about that from more than a week ago.

DeLoriea, a literacy teacher, has not returned messages.

The matter involved DeLoriea and her critic, Elmhurst conservative activist Tom Chavez.

In 2023, the local teachers union, the Elmhurst Teachers Council, filed a complaint with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board on behalf of DeLoriea. The union alleged the district retaliated against DeLoriea.

In November, the labor board told Patch that the two sides had settled the dispute, so the union dropped the complaint.

The settlement was signed by Superintendent Keisha Campbell. It never received the board's public approval.

In the agreement, the district maintains it never committed an unfair labor practice or violated the law in any way.

The document stated that DeLoriea had not violated any of the district's directives since the reprimand was issued. The district said it agreed to let the notice to remedy lapse because of litigation costs.

The lapse, the agreement said, would bar the district from using it as a basis for firing DeLoriea.

DeLoriea originally served a one-day suspension without pay after the district accused her of revealing information about Chavez's child on social media. (She said the child attended her class for a couple of days, information that her supporters said Chavez himself relayed on social media. Chavez complained to the district.)

With its reprimand vote, the board removed the previous disciplinary action. Members did not explain why they needed to reprimand DeLoriea after she served the suspension.

Over the years, conservatives have criticized DeLoriea and her fellow American Studies teacher, Lindsey DiTomasso, alleging their lessons are liberally biased.

Their critics included then-state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi, an Elmhurst Republican, who lost re-election in 2022.

Chavez has twice lost school board races.