CHICAGO — It’s a shocking situation. A man charged with attempted murder was released on bond and allowed to start a new job at an Illinois middle school.
According to the CBS station in Chicago, Andres Rodriguez was working as a substitute teacher when he was accused of shooting a man seven times following a traffic accident in July 2017. He was released on a half a million dollars bond, the station reported and placed on leave by that school district.
However, two weeks later Rodriguez started another job as a substitute in another school district. According to Patch.com, Rodriguez had been hired for that position weeks before the incident but was still allowed to start working with fifth graders.
He worked at Unity Middle School until February when that district also placed him on leave.
It appears that staff, parents or the state school board were never made aware of his arrest and the charges. Even if the state board was made aware, they reportedly could not have suspended his license at the time. State law only allows that to happen if/when a person is convicted.
The district released the following statement:
“Upon learning of this matter, District 99 immediately engaged its administrators, attorneys, and professionals with a directive to take any and all action to protect the interests of the students and the District. District 99 performed all necessary due diligence and administered proper employment action within the legal limits of the law, which included immediately placing the employee on leave from the District. This employee has been on leave and has not been on District grounds since February 16, 2018. Since such time, this employee has had no contact with any students, staff, or parents of District 99. As law enforcement has an active and pending investigation of Andres Rodriguez relative to the allegations against him, the District is not able to disclose any additional information.”
