Triad schools face lawsuit as felony sex abuse charges against teacher are dropped
Triad Community Unit School District 2 is denying that it broke the law when handling a case involving a former student who was sexually harassed by a teacher.
Last week, the district’s Board of Education submitted a formal answer to allegations made in a federal lawsuit filed in January on behalf of the male student, identified anonymously as John Doe 10.
This is separate from a criminal case against the teacher, Erin M. Garwood, in Madison County Circuit Court. It was closed last month, after she accepted a plea agreement.
The civil lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Illinois. It alleges that Garwood stalked the student, leered at him, made lewd comments and sent him sexually explicit messages, emails, texts and photos between 2015 and 2019, and that the harassment and related bullying by peers forced him to leave school.
The lawsuit argues that school officials didn’t take the necessary action to protect the student and violated his civil rights under state law and Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities.
In its answer, the Board of Education “denies any violation of Plaintiff’s civil rights and any statutory violation and further denies any liability for sexual harassment or abuse or any damages.”
The board maintains that it followed an “effective policy for reporting and redressing sexual harassment,” conducted a “prompt and thorough investigation” of the student’s allegations and implemented “appropriate disciplinary sanction” against the teacher.
Garwood, now 41, of Edwardsville, was the student’s eighth-grade science teacher at Triad Middle School and a dance coach at Triad High School in Troy. She was placed on leave in May 2019 and resigned that July.
The Triad Board of Education filed a motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit, but U.S. District Court Judge Steven McGlynn denied it on Sept. 7.
Plea to lesser crime
Garwood was charged on Dec. 5, 2019, with indecent solicitation of a child, a Class 2 felony, and grooming, a Class 4 felony, in Madison County Circuit Court. Prosecutors alleged that she told the student (identified by his initials, H.B.) through the Snapchat online-messaging service that she wanted to have sexual intercourse with him between 2016 and 2018.
The maximum penalty for conviction on a Class 2 felony is seven years in prison, plus fines, restitution and court assessments. The maximum penalty for a Class 4 felony is three years.
The criminal case was continued several times. The last hearing, scheduled for Oct. 4, was canceled in late August, when Garwood reached a plea agreement with the office of Madison County State’s Attorney’s Tom Haine.
The two felony counts were dismissed, and Garwood pleaded guilty on Aug. 26 to a new charge of harassment through electronic communication, a Class B misdemeanor, as explained in a handwritten Count 3 that stated:
“In that said defendant used electronic communication to make any comment, request, suggestion or proposal which is obscene with the intent to offend, in that said defendant communicated with H.B. ... through electronic means & sent him sexually suggestive communications & images.”
Also on Aug. 26, Associate Judge Martin Mengarelli sentenced Garwood to 12 months of probation.
The judge ordered Garwood to pay $2,000 to the Madison County Child Advocacy Center in Wood River as restitution, undergo sex-offender evaluation and treatment and have no contact with H.B., who is now 20, according to court records.
Calvin Fuller, Garwood’s Granite City attorney in the criminal case, couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday.
“(Garwood) does not have to register as a sex offender, but she does have to obtain a sex offender evaluation and complete any recommended treatment as part of her probation,” Haine spokesman Philip Lasseigne stated in an email.
The federal lawsuit alleges that Garwood violated John Doe 10’s 14th Amendment right to personal security and bodily integrity at a public school, as well as equal protection of the laws, by sexually harassing and abusing him.
Garwood submitted a formal answer to the complaint on May 7, but she didn’t address the allegations, asserting her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Sarah Jane Hunt, a St. Louis attorney representing John Doe 10, said the U.S. District Court has tentatively set a date of March 2023 for a jury trial, noting that COVID-19 has caused delays, and criminal cases take precedence over civil cases in catch-up scheduling.
“Having the criminal matter (Garwood’s case in Madison County) brought to a close will help move the civil matter along,” Hunt said.
Jarrod Beasley, Garwood’s Belleville attorney in the federal lawsuit, couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday. Triad Superintendent Leigh Lewis declined comment.
Teacher for 14 years
Garwood was hired in 2005 and worked 14 years for Triad Community Unit School District 2 before she was placed on leave in May 2019.
Lewis told the BND in December 2019 that the allegation involving Garwood had been brought to her attention that spring by Triad High School administrators and it was reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Madison County Sheriff’s Department.
“Anytime an employee is being investigated by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, they must be removed from their position pending the outcome of the investigation,” Lewis said. “That is our board policy.”
Garwood pleaded not guilty to the original two felony charges at her arraignment on Dec. 13, 2019.
At that time, a judge approved former State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons’ motion for additional bail-bond conditions, requiring that Garwood not “harass, intimidate or interfere with the personal liberty” of H.B., enter onto the premises of his home or have any contact with him, remaining at least 500 feet away.
“The Defendant has previously threatened or perpetrated physical abuse toward the victim in this matter,” the motion stated. “On information and belief, the Defendant presents a continued threat to the victim.”
The Illinois State Board of Education revoked Garwood’s professional educator license in April 2020 after she voluntarily surrendered it. The order didn’t give a reason.
In April of this year, Garwood replaced her Glen Carbon attorney, Judy Steele, with Fuller in the Madison County criminal case.
‘Inappropriate topics’
John Doe 10 filed the lawsuit against Garwood, the Triad Board of Education and former Triad High School Principal Rodney Winslow (now district director of secondary curriculum) on Jan. 21 in U.S. District Court, pursuant to Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act.
The original complaint was amended on April 7. Winslow isn’t named as a defendant in the amended complaint.
“Plaintiff brings this action to address Defendant’s violations of Plaintiff’s civil rights, to hold Defendants responsible for the injuries he suffered due to sexual harassment and abuse perpetrated upon him by a teacher and peers within his school, and to protect others from the pain of childhood sexual abuse and harassment,” it states.
The lawsuit alleges that:
- Garwood began sexually harassing John Doe 10 in the fall of his eighth-grade year at Triad Middle School.
- She added the male student as a Snapchat friend and sent messages about “sex and other inappropriate topics for a teacher to discuss with her student.”
- She started sending “extremely sexually explicit” messages, telling him she found him “attractive” and asking him to have sex with her.
- She told him about her sexual fantasies, such as having sex with him in her classroom closet.
She sent him a photo of herself naked in the bathtub.
- Later at Triad High School, she waited for him to finish wrestling practices, when he and his teammates were shirtless, and asked him for hugs.
- She went to his house in the summer of 2017, knocked on his door and asked him to come outside to speak with her.
- She attended his baseball games and “leered” at him from the bleachers.
- She repeatedly told him not to report her behavior because it would “ruin her life” and manipulated and guilted him into staying quiet.
The Board of Education, through its attorney, John Murphy, answered many of these allegations by stating that school officials lacked sufficient knowledge or information to determine if they were true.
Gossip and teasing
The lawsuit also addresses the reaction of other students at Triad High School, claiming they openly discussed Garwood’s “advances” toward John Doe 10, joked and teased him about it and perpetuated rumors that the two were having sex.
The Board of Education addressed this allegation in its answer to the complaint.
“Around 3:30 p.m. on May 14, 2019, district personnel were made aware of gossip and rumors regarding an improper relationship between a teacher and student,” it stated. “Thereafter, it promptly addressed these rumors, confronting both Plaintiff and Garwood, the latter of whom it immediately placed on leave.”
The lawsuit states that:
- John Doe 10 heard members of his Triad High School wrestling team laugh and gossip about Garwood having sex with other athletes in 2017 and 2018.
- School employees never intervened or clarified that such activity constituted abuse and sexual harassment.
- An administrator reported rumors of a teacher having sex with male students to the school police officer, Kip Heinle, in May 2019.
- Heinle pulled John Doe 10 out of baseball practice to question him, leading him to believe he was in trouble.
- The student, described as a “terrified high schooler,” lied and failed to tell the officer what Garwood had been doing.
- Heinle called the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services hotline to report possible abuse.
- The student later revealed Garwood’s inappropriate behavior during an interview at the Madison County Child Advocacy Center.
Triad did nothing to protect the student from a “hostile environment” of gossip and bullying by peers.
- The student became embarrassed and angry, had trouble focusing on his studies, dropped out of extracurricular activities then left the school after his junior year.
- The student’s mother notified the principal, who failed to discuss safety measures or accommodations to help him continue his education.
- Triad launched an internal investigation that revealed other victims of sexual harassment by Garwood.
- She resigned instead of being fired.
- The student spent his senior year at Lebanon High School and graduated.
The Board of Education acknowledges some of these points as fact, but denies those that allege wrongdoing by the district.
Legal arguments
Counts 1-5 of the lawsuit involve only Triad and its alleged violations of Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives federal money.
The lawsuit claims that:
- Triad administrators knew Garwood had a history of sexually harassing male students and warned her about the inappropriate behavior but failed to act, showing “deliberate indifference” to the rights of students.
- Triad failed to establish or enforce sufficient policies or procedures against sexual harassment and encouraged a culture where abuse against male students wasn’t taken seriously.
- Triad employees knew John Doe 10 was being teased and harassed by his peers and didn’t act to stop the harassment, which was based on gender discrimination and stereotypes.
- Triad’s actions kept the student from participating in extracurricular activities and getting an education and caused emotional distress, psychological and economic damage and institutional betrayal.
The Board of Education denies all of these allegations.
“(The district) has an effective policy for reporting and redressing sexual harassment and other types of sex discrimination and harassment,” it stated in its answer to the complaint.
“The District conducted a prompt and thorough investigation of Plaintiff’s allegations and implemented appropriate disciplinary sanction and other corrective actions to address Defendant Garwood’s harassment and to remediate the effects of that conduct on Plaintiff.”
Count 6 of the lawsuit involves only Garwood. It argues that she violated John Doe 10’s 14th Amendment right to personal security and bodily integrity at a public school, as well as equal protection of the laws, by sexually harassing and abusing him.
Count 7 maintains that Garwood violated the Illinois Human Rights Act by sexually harassing John Doe 10 and that Triad violated it by failing to take appropriate disciplinary action against her.
The Board of Education denies this allegation. Garwood asserts her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on Counts 6 and 7.
This story was originally published October 13, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Triad schools face lawsuit as felony sex abuse charges against teacher are dropped."
