Another Hoodlum Becomes A School Principal
brojack
Criminal check failed to uncover educator's record
By Diane Rado
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 20, 2003
Educator Calvin Gooch, hired by Elgin's U-46 school district two years
ago with an extensive resume, quickly rose to a principal's job and
spearheaded efforts to create the district's first charter school.
School officials now say Gooch lied on his application to hide a 1996
felony conviction and federal prison time for financial fraud. A
flawed system of criminal background checks for school employees
allowed Gooch's criminal record to remain undetected, authorities
acknowledge, enabling him to get jobs in Chicago Public Schools and in
Elgin after his release from prison in 2000.
Gooch, 51, resigned from Elgin July 1 after being found guilty of
violating his probation on the federal fraud case. Court records show
he was sentenced on June 27 to 2 months of federal custody in a
community setting that allows him to work.
He started as principal last week in tiny Fairmont School District 89
in Will County, one of the most financially troubled districts in the
state. School board member Henry Travis said Gooch acknowledged during
the hiring process that he had a criminal past, though "he said he
wasn't guilty."
"If this had been something like a sex offender, or a murderer, there
was no way I would have put him there," Travis said. "In this case,
how can you rehabilitate someone if you don't give them a second
chance?"
Gooch could not be reached Friday for comment.
State education officials said the law prohibits schools from hiring
educators convicted of crimes such as murder and sexual offenses
related to children. However, white-collar financial crimes are not
included, and local districts have the discretion to hire people
convicted of those crimes. "It's a case-by-case approach," said Harry
Blackburn, a legal adviser at the Illinois State Board of Education.
Gooch was indicted in March 1996 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern
District of Wisconsin, where prosecutors said he devised a scheme to
defraud AT&T Co. in Milwaukee between 1990 and 1992. Gooch was a
company operations manager.
The indictment alleged that Gooch directed his secretary to alter
weekly payroll records for four employees by adding overtime hours. He
instructed the employees to cash those inflated checks and give him
most or all of the overtime money, according to the indictment.
Gooch was sentenced to 46 months in prison, followed by 3 years of
supervised release, and ordered to pay AT&T more than $370,000 in
restitution, sentencing records show.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said Gooch began his sentence in January
1997 and served time in prison camps in Duluth, Minn., and Yankton,
S.D., before going to a halfway house in December 1999.
However, the resume he sent to U-46 showed him serving as a science
curriculum consultant and working at Lindenwood University in Missouri
between 1997 and 1999, district spokesman Larry Ascough said.
By February 2000, Gooch was put into home confinement. With time off
for good behavior, he was released from federal custody in May 2000.
By then, he already worked for the Chicago Public Schools.
Chicago schools spokeswoman Lucy Ramirez said Gooch was rehired as a
teacher in March 2000, though officials didn't know he was in home
confinement at the time. He taught until September 2001. At the time
he was hired, the district's background checks involved looking for
convictions only in Illinois. In late 2000, it switched to national
checks, so convictions in other states would show up. Gooch "slipped
through the cracks," Ramirez said.
Other districts use the Illinois State Police to conduct background
checks. Those checks also look only for Illinois offenses, unless a
conviction shows up to prompt a broader search.
When Gooch applied to Elgin's U-46 district in 2001, the background
check turned up nothing, Ascough said. Asked on his application
whether he had been convicted or pleaded guilty to a felony, Gooch
answered no, Ascough said.
Gooch's resume listed experience at two elementary schools and a high
school in Chicago, as well as the science consultant and university
work, Ascough said. Gooch's file doesn't indicate whether district
officials checked with all of Gooch's former employers, Ascough said.
Gooch was hired to be an assistant principal at Canton Middle School
in Streamwood in 2001-02. The following year, he took the job at
Sheridan Elementary in Elgin. Gooch and his wife, a U-46
administrator, also have been working to start Elgin's first charter
school.
Then in late June the school got a call from federal officials,
apparently because Gooch had been accused of violating provisions of
his federal supervision.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Milwaukee said Gooch
failed to pay restitution and had assets that he didn't report. After
two months on work release, Gooch will be under federal supervision
for another 30 months, including 2 months' confinement at home.
Col. Ken Bouche, who oversees the Illinois State Police system,
acknowledged it has flaws because of state law conflicts.
While the law requires state police to do broad checks that involve
looking for convictions in other states, local school districts aren't
required to submit potential employees' fingerprints--which Bouche
said are required for such checks.
State police would prefer broader checks, he said.
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