Sexual Misconduct Investigation Into Ex-Drama Teacher Released

LAKE FOREST, IL — An independent investigation into sexual misconduct accusations against a longtime Lake Forest High School drama teacher found no evidence that district employees were aware of the allegations against him before administrators were notified by police.

David Miller worked for the district from 1966 until then-Superintendent Harry Griffith demanded his resignation in May 2009, the same day Lake Forest police presented dozens of inappropriate sexual messages between Miller and a former student to the former superintendent.

Former students subsequently alleged Miller gave students massages in his home, provided alcohol to minors, and engaged in open-mouth kissing, inappropriate correspondence and "sexualized full-body hugging," according to a summary of the investigation.

The investigation, released Monday, found the district's response to the reports may not have measured up to current standards or those of the time.

Superintendent Harry Griffith did not report the allegations to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the Illinois State Board of Education or the school community, nor did he seek to remove Miller's name from the school theater.

The determination by Lake Forest police that no crime had been committed, and the desire by the parents of the student who reported inappropriate messages from Miller not to further pursue the matter, contributed to Griffith's decision to remove the drama teacher "without a public fight," the investigation found.

Then-LFHS Principal Jay Hoffman also recalled police recommended administrators "leave it alone" because the boy and his parents wanted privacy, according to the 52-page report.

"While the District’s response might not have met the best practices for addressing claims of educator sexual misconduct, our research and experience reflects that its response was not atypical for school districts at that time," according to a summary of the report.

"In addition, while there is some information that Miller was recently employed in some capacity for another school district, we did not find any evidence to suggest the District’s response enabled Miller to engage in additional alleged sexual misconduct."

Police did not provide Griffith with a copy of the evidence or identify the student whose parents reported it. The superintendent was permitted to review the 80 pages of screenshots of texts and instant messages at the police station.

The investigation found that a closer look at the messages would have shown that, "contrary to the police's summary," Miller and the boy may have had inappropriate physical encounters. The conversations referenced massages, hugs, inappropriate touching and some other material that has been redacted from the final report.

Back in 2009, Griffith and Hoffman said they identified three boys with whom Miller said he had "engaged in similar communications," but each of them denied their correspondence with the drama teacher had been inappropriate. The administrators never reported the additional boys to police.

The report found it "concerning that the District so readily accepted the students’ representations that the communications were not similarly sexual in nature — at least, not without contacting the students’ parents to ask for their help in talking with the boys."

The investigation identified 14 former LFHS students who either self-identified or were described by others as victims or survivors of abuse by Miller. Only one agreed to speak with investigators. Seven declined through their attorneys. Two declined directly. Four did not respond.

"The lack of input from these former students limited the amount of information we were able to obtain," investigators reported.

Miller did not agree to be interviewed as part of the investigation.

RELATED: Ex-LFHS Teacher Accused Of 'Inappropriate' Contact With Students

At the time of his firing, Griffith banned him from returning to campus. But several years later, after the superintendent had retired, Miller was scheduled to handle sound and lights for a theater program at the school. An assistant superintendent warned him not to come back, and Miller "got animated," according to the investigation.

When the assistant threatened to call Miller's then-employer, he agreed to pull out of the event. That led district officials to hire an attorney to formalize Miller's ban from campus, although Hoffman, the former principal, recalled seeing the former drama teacher at at least one on-campus performance in the studio theater, which was named in his honor in 2002.

Eight months ago, the Lake Forest Community High School District 115 board hired the law firm Rebecca Leitman Veidlinger to conduct the investigation after police and school administrators learned more details of allegations against the former employee.

In January 2018, Lake Forest police received an anonymous report of sexual misconduct by Miller. Officers were then informed that Miller had been asked to quietly resign in 2009 after the revelation of inappropriate correspondence with a student. Then from July 2019 to early 2020, District 115 officials received multiple new reports of Miller's misconduct, according to the investigation.

In June 2020, the District 115 board voted unanimously to remove Miller's name from the LFHS Wall of Fame and from the school's studio theater.

At a special board meeting that month, a member of the LFHS class of 1988 identified himself as the former student who reported Miller to police in 2018. He said he had identified other victims of the teacher's abuse.

"Dave Miller had a playbook," the alumni told the board. "With surgical precision he targeted and groomed vulnerable students like me, including children with single parents, children of divorce, children of alcoholics, children who had to stay with relatives to escape their parents."

The report provided 13 additional steps to prevent future sexual misconduct by educators — on top of measures district officials have taken in recent years.

They include better policies for reporting reasonable suspicions of misconduct, scheduling more sexual misconduct prevention efforts and training, communicating with parents, monitoring interactions on campus and more.

Read More: Executive summary and complete report into the District 115 response to allegations against former Lake Forest High School teacher David Miller »