The former CEO of Urban Prep Academies — a celebrated Chicago charter school network that specifically serves Black male teens — says in new court documents that he was forced to resign in July because of a “fundamentally flawed investigation” into sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Tim King, the founder of Urban Prep, is asking a Cook County judge to reverse Chicago Public Schools’ disciplinary measures, including substantiating an allegation of sexual abuse against him, making him ineligible for rehire and prohibiting him from entering any CPS property. The Aug. 30 legal filing names the Chicago Board of Education, the CPS Office of the Inspector General, Chief Title IX Officer Camie Pratt and Inspector General Will Fletcher as defendants.
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CPS said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation. King’s attorney, Andy DeVooght, told the Tribune the district’s actions have been devastating.
“Tim has spent 30 years working with thousands of young men, has had no issues in doing so, other than these wild accusations levied against him by this individual who, respectfully, is a troubled young man,” DeVooght said.
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Urban Prep, which has campuses in Englewood, Bronzeville and the Loop, recently celebrated its 13th consecutive year of its entire senior class being accepted into a four-year college. King said he led Urban Prep from its founding in 2003 until April 2021, when he took a voluntary administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the CPS inspector general.
According to King’s 48-page legal filing, an Urban Prep graduate-turned-employee took to Facebook in March 2021 to accuse King of “‘turning boys to sex slaves.’” The statements triggered an OIG investigation in which the accuser, who is not named in the court documents, said King touched him inappropriately after they attended a performance of “Dreamgirls” at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in 2010 when he was 16. King is accused of grooming the student for a sexual relationship that lasted years, including periods when the former student was an Urban Prep employee.
In his paperwork, King said the OIG conducted a “misguided investigation” that did not enable him “to participate in the process as the defendants’ procedures mandate to help ensure appropriate credibility determinations were made, facts were gathered correctly, and allegations were appropriately tested.”
The court filing continues: “As a result, the CPS OIG issued a report that was riddled with unreliable statements, replete with factual errors, and, unbelievably, credited the uncorroborated allegations of a troubled young man over the word of Mr. King.”
King said in the legal documents that CPS was so “embarrassed” by the 2018 Tribune “Betrayed” series, which highlighted the district’s failures in its handling of sexual abuse allegations, and the ensuing federal investigation that the district implemented extensive procedures to “provide for the prompt and equitable resolution of Title IX complaints.” But, the filing contends, CPS doesn’t actually follow them.
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The district violated his rights to due process, King said in his legal action, by “refusing to provide him a meaningful appeal to challenge the flawed investigation and indefensible result — even denying him the opportunity to present newly discovered, exculpatory information that a new witness was prepared to tell CPS OIG that the student fabricated the allegations” against him.
King asked a judge Wednesday for permission to file the inspector general report and other documents under seal.
According to King’s court filing, the Board of Education in late June received the 49-page OIG report substantiating the claims against him. Days later, on July 5, the board’s law department sent King a letter informing him he is not allowed to enter any CPS property until June 30, 2024, except to attend board meetings, other public forums or a teacher’s or principal’s conference for his child; on July 7, Pratt, the chief Title IX officer, sent an email to Craig Carter, vice chair of the Urban Prep board, telling him that King “must be terminated” and “ineligible for rehire,” according to documents filed by King.
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King said he was forced to resign as Urban Prep CEO on July 27.
King noted that the state Department of Children and Family Services determined in July 2021 that the accuser’s reports were “unfounded,” meaning that “no credible evidence of child abuse or neglect was found during (the) investigation.” The letter from DCFS was submitted as part of the filing.
A court date is scheduled for Dec. 29.
tswartz@tribpub.com
