Schools
Sex Abuse Allegations: Open Letter To The Lake Bluff School District 65 Community
Lake Bluff Superintendent sends an open letter regarding sexual abuse accusations against a former math teacher and coach.
LAKE BLUFF, IL — The Lake Bluff District 65 this week indentifed a former teacher acussed of sexual abuse by students and promised to fully cooperate with the investigation into the allegations.
The district posted an "Open Letter to the Lake Bluff School District 65 community" on Wednesday, naming former teacher Charles T. Ritz, III as being the subject of multiple recent reports of sexual abuse from former students.
"We take these allegations very seriously and feel compassion and concern for anyone who may have been impacted," it said, pointing out law enforcement is investigation accusations going back roughly 30 years. "In the decades that have passed since Mr. Ritz left our district, the legal landscape has evolved to provide additional protections for students."
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Tuesday night, former Lake Bluff student Jim Moss addressed the District 65 board meeting, reading a written statement about how he had been abused in the 1980s and believed the response of the district following Ritz's retirement was insufficient.
His statement begins around 4:00 of the following video:
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Ritz did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations or the district's decision to identify him as the subject of accusations of sexual abuse, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Ritz quit under pressure from his position as a coach and math teacher in Lake Bluff more than 30 years ago, but he then went on to subsequently teach for decades in southern California until his retirement in 2016. Both those schools are investigating his tenure, the Tribune reports.
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