Two days after meeting, former East St. Louis coach finally learned his fate

Nearly 48 hours after the school board adjourned from a meeting to decide his fate, former East St. Louis High School track and field coach Barry Malloyd learned in a text message from District 189 human resources that he had been fired from his job at Mason Clark Middle School.

Malloyd, the juvenile transition coordinator and athletic director at Mason Clark, was accused of allowing a convicted sex offender to be around student athletes, which he vehemently denies.

The school board held a closed hearing Tuesday evening to discuss the allegations and Malloyd’s future with the district. It met again Wednesday, the agenda stating only that the members would discussing personnel matters in executive session. Malloyd said he was told after Tuesday’s meeting that he would be informed of the board’s decision prior to Wednesday’s regularly scheduled meeting.

He left the District 189 Building Wednesday more confused.

“I just have no clue what’s going on,” Barry Malloyd said after the board meeting.

As of late Friday morning, he told the Belleville News-Democrat he still hadn’t heard from the district. He confirmed he received a text at about 4:30 p.m., not long after an article was posted to bnd.com regarding the meetings and lack of clarity.

Malloyd said he believes he’s been scapegoated because Earlest Johnson, who had been charged with two felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a teen-aged boy in 2012 before pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts, had been spotted on campus during football games, track meets and other district events.

Johnson continues to register as a sex offender in St. Clair County, according to court records.

Malloyd maintains he had no knowledge of Johnson’s criminal history and didn’t invite him onto a school campus. Johnson also told the BND he never disclosed his record to Malloyd, nor did he show up for campus events at the former coach’s invitation.

Malloyd also said no principals, security staff, the superintendent or any other district official ever told or wrote to him that Johnson should not be allowed on school premises. In response to the allegations against him, Malloyd questioned why others had long allowed Johnson to be at school events.

“Those people who knew he was a convicted sex offender should be held accountable, not Barry Malloyd,” he said in an interview.

Johnson said he’s not involved with coaching children at the school and said anybody who says he did since his 2012 conviction “is telling a lie.”

“I have not been in contact with those kids. I have been in contact with the coach. And at summer camp, not at track practices for the school,” he said. “I don’t coach. I don’t do anything. I have no dealings with the children at all.”

Confusion over Malloyd’s employment status

On June 4 — two days after he retired from his coaching job — Malloyd was called into two separate meetings with school officials, he later told the BND. Malloyd said that at the first meeting he was told that he was suspended with pay from his job.

Then, at the second meeting that day, Malloyd learned of the specific allegations: that he let a convicted sex offender be around the students he coached, allowed that person to access students’ information, that he failed to comply with the employee code of conduct, and that, as a mandated reporter, he failed to let anybody know about the convicted sex offender.

Malloyd said he was also told that Superintendent Arthur Culver had recommended that he be fired. The superintendent’s office could not be reached for comment Thurday or Friday.

Community members showed up at the district building to show support for Malloyd during Tuesday’s personnel committee meeting and Wednesday’s regularly-scheduled meeting.

Many in the crowd spoke of Malloyd as more than a respected district coach and employee, but also a home-grown hero who sets teens on the right path and a prime example of what the “City of Champions” is all about.

“I believe that he’s the face of today’s community both inside and outside of education because he was always there for the youth,” said East St. Louis’ Terrance Powell Jr., a former Flyer athlete Malloyd coached.

Malloyd’s family said they expected that the board would reveal their decision in open session on Wednesday, referring to Malloyd by his assigned employee identification number.

Instead, they left the district building confused.

“As a board, how sorry can you be?” Malloyd’s mother Brenda Hicks said Wednesday.

The BND asked the district if the board acted on Malloyd’s employment during Wednesday’s closed session. Valencia Hawkins, a spokesperson for the district and its chief human resources officer, said it’s against district policy to publicly discuss personnel matters.

But, she said, any formal action taken in Wednesday’s closed session was reported in open session and will be in the official meeting minutes. As of Thursday, those minutes were not yet posted online. Typically, the board approves minutes from their previous meeting at the following monthly meeting.

In open session Wednesday, the board did approve a personnel report, which is not available to the public online. The board did not mention any explicit personnel actions such as hiring or firings in open session. They did refer to students in disciplinary matters by their respective identification numbers.

Was a man on the sex offender registry at East St. Louis schools?

In 2012, Johnson was charged with two felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teen boy. The BND previously reported Johnson was an assistant boys track coach at East St. Louis Senior High School for the 2010-11 season, but was not rehired the following year, according to Beth Shepperd, who was the district’s assistant superintendent for human resources and community relations at the time.

Shepperd also previously told the BND that Johnson passed a criminal background check and drug test before he worked with the students, and while she did not know why he wasn’t rehired, it was not because of the 2012 charges.

As part of a plea deal, the two felony counts were dismissed in 2013 and Johnson instead pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, court records show.

Multiple community members told the BND Johnson has been spotted at football games, track meets and other district events since his 2013 conviction.

“He has been around track and field at the district for years and they know it …” Malloyd said. “He has put on programs at the district, concerts and afterparties, too. Most people are familiar with Earlest Johnson.”

Malloyd said he once asked Johnson to attend a track practice at the high school to show three student athletes how to run a speed zone drill. He still maintained that he did not know of Johnson’s past.

“He did and he left,” Malloyd said. “That’s why they’re saying I let a sex offender around our kids.”

Citing Illinois statute, Hawkins said that, with a few exceptions, anyone on the sex offender registry cannot be on school grounds or work with students unless the school board or superintendent grants written permission. No such permission had been granted to anyone, she said.

The BND also asked the school district about its procedures for vetting people who volunteer with the district, or anybody else who is not employed by the district but works with students. Hawkins issued the following reply:

“The District has a rigorous process in place to vet all individuals who are not employed by the district but interact with students on a regular basis. The process includes background checks through the Illinois State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as clearance through the Illinois Sex Offender and Violent Offender Against Youth registries. No volunteer or resource person is permitted to work with students until these checks are completed and reviewed.”

This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 12:02 PM.