A temporary food-service employee was removed from Lake Forest High School on Feb. 21 after trying to pass a phone number to a student, District 115 Superintendent Matthew Montgomery announced in an e-mail last week.
Montgomery said members of the administration received a report about the incident and later received questions from the community in the e-mail sent out on Friday.
“Once we received the report, the administrators confirmed the accusation by reviewing security footage, immediately removed the employee from the food service setting, and launched a full investigation. Within an hour, the food service employee was removed from LFHS property,” he wrote.
Montgomery added the school filed a complaint with the employment agency involved and notified the Department of Children and Family Services. He said he has worked “diligently” with the student and his family throughout the incident and the investigation.
Police were not alerted to the incident, officials said.
“Our School Resource Officer (SRO), a detective with the Lake Forest Police Department, was onsite at the high school when this incident occurred and consulted with administrators during the investigation,” LFHS spokeswoman Melissa Oakley wrote in an e-mail. “While the temporary employee’s action reflected poor judgment and is out of compliance with district practice, it is not illegal.
“The incident was reported immediately to the firm that employs the temporary worker, and they are conducting their own investigation,” she wrote.
The food service agency started its association with LFHS in the fall of 2023, according to Oakley. She said there have not been other incidents with the firm’s employees.
“We are working with the employment agency to ensure the expectations of staff conduct and student interactions are reviewed at regular intervals following initial orientation to ensure ongoing compliance with our standards,” Montgomery said. “Any incident, such as what was reported, will not be tolerated.”
Parents Care Lake Forest, an organization that has frequently questioned school policies and actions, posted a note about the incident on its website several days before Montgomery’s e-mail.
“We are happy LFHS sent out the message about what happened,” Parents Care board member Philippe Melin said in an interview after the e-mail went out. “That was the right thing to do.”
Regarding Parents Care, Montgomery also announced a new policy toward the organization, which he labeled as an opposition group, specifically on their Freedom of Information Act and other information requests.
“These requests have become so voluminous and increasingly hostile, including unfounded accusations, that we feel we must establish boundaries for responding to such requests,” he wrote.
In his e-mail, Montgomery attached a letter from Jennifer Smith, a lawyer representing both Lake Forest District 67 and Lake Forest District 115 (LFHS). The letter tells Parents Care the school districts would only respond to Parents Care or its associates through a Freedom of Information Act process or another applicable board policy.
“That seems a little bit punitive to us,” Melin said. “We don’t consider ourselves an opposition party. We support schools. We have three priorities, with academic performance, transparency and fiscal responsibility.”
In response, Parents Care then sent a letter to school members of both districts asking if they agreed with the policies articulated in Smith’s letter.
