Chicago Board of Education under fire amid sexual assault allegations against teacher

CHICAGO - Attorneys for two Chicago Public Schools (CPS) families had fiery words for the Chicago Board of Education Thursday after a court hearing was held in a criminal case against a former teacher at Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School.

Andrew Castro, who was a PE teacher at the Avondale school, was charged with criminal sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child in July of last year.

In December 2023, a lawsuit was filed against both the Chicago Board of Education and Castro by ‘Jane Doe and Jack Doe’ on behalf of their two minor children, "John Doe," 16, and "James Doe," 14, and "Jill Roe" on behalf of her minor child, "Joe Roe," 15. 

Two of the victims are brothers and the third is their cousin.

Cass Casper and Bob Fioretti of Disparti Law Group are representing the two CPS families and said they attended the court hearing Thursday to observe the criminal proceedings against Castro as it relates to their civil case. 

At the hearing Thursday, Casper said the Chicago Board filed a motion to stay.

"The Chicago Board has appeared on our case, and they're asking to delay justice for these three children because they're worried about defendant Castro's criminal rights. That's the Chicago Board taking that position. Folks, that is a shameful position to take. We have opposed it utterly because justice can't wait for these three children," said Casper. 

Casper said they are opposing the motion and want the civil case to proceed as quickly as possible to get justice for the three children. 

"We filed our lawsuit seeking justice for these three young children because the Chicago Board has not delivered the correct safety and justice for them. We are seeking for them to be made whole and to send a message to the Chicago Board that it must do more than it has done to route out sexual abuse, teacher on student sexual abuse, vendor on student sexual abuse, in all varieties," said Casper.

CPS commented on the original lawsuit. However, FOX 32 reached out to CPS again for another comment on the new developments. Additionally, FOX 32 reached out to the Chicago Board of Education for a response to the matter.

CPS said the following:

"Chicago Public Schools (CPS), prioritizes the safety and well-being of our students. We take seriously our responsibility to ensure all employees act in the best interest of our students. The District does not comment on pending investigations or litigation. Our CPS team follows District policies and procedures as we respond to issues."

The alleged assaults in this case began in 2018 when the former PE teacher at Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School, identified as Andrew Castro, was 31 and the victims were 10, 11 and 12 years old and halted in 2022 when he was 35.

During the 2017-2018 school year, Castro allegedly searched for vulnerable students during PE class by inquiring about their situations at home and family lives.

"For over 5 years, our clients – students at CPS – endured grooming and sexual abuse by a teacher, a person entrusted with their education and safety," said attorney Patrycja Karlin of the Karlin Law Firm.

After allegedly "screening" conversations with students, Castro is accused of selecting John and James Doe and Joe Roe as special objects of interest, the lawsuit states.

The three minors would often play soccer before and after class with other children and would spend time in Castro's office during the hours of operation at the elementary school.

Castro then began attending the minors' soccer matches, which were played outside of school grounds in public parks. Castro would allegedly ask the minors to obtain permission from their parents for him to come and watch them at the soccer matches — even though he didn't need to.

According to the lawsuit, he did this as a part of his grooming efforts so that he did not appear threatening or strange to the minors' parents.

Sometimes, Castro would even take the minors out to lunch after the games, the lawsuit alleges. As the school year progressed and Castro began to gain the trust of the three victims and their parents, he eventually had John and James Doe call him "godfather" and Joe Roe call him "dad."

Castro then started having direct communication with the minors using electronic devices and accounts. Castro allegedly started taking the minors to more expensive activities like bowling, movies and the mall, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that Castro financed all activities himself and transported the minors in his vehicle without the consent of their parents.

Then, in late 2018, Castro allegedly began inviting the minors to his home in Chicago. Around the same time, Castro hired John and James Doe’s father, Jack Doe, and their sister, Miriam Doe, to renovate his home for $20,000, which was paid to them, the lawsuit says.

From that time on, Castro would hire Jack Doe and Miriam Doe to renovate his real estate projects for which he paid them. According to the lawsuit, this was an attempt to make the father and sister of John and James Doe financially dependent and subservient to Castro.

Around that same time, the minors began regularly visiting Castro at his house. There, they would play different types of card, board and video games.

One day, after finishing a "dice game" with the three boys, Castro demanded that the boy who scored the lowest number "take off his pants and spin his penis." Castro allegedly said this was a joke, but also participated and took off his pants and exposed himself.

In another instance, after finishing a game, Castro allegedly "dry humped" the minors one by one, which he also said was a joke.

The minors also started sleeping over at Castro's house. The lawsuit alleges that sometimes the minors and Castro would all sleep in the same bed and other times Castro and Joe Roe would sleep in the same bed while the others slept in a different bedroom.

On at least one occasion, the lawsuit states that Castro sexually assaulted John Doe. Following the assault, Castro gave him $20.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, Castro allegedly suggested to Jill Roe that he would like to adopt Joe Roe. Jill Roe refused. It is alleged that Joe Roe was not the first child Castro attempted to adopt.

In 2020, Joe Roe would visit Castro alone at his home and play dice games that would end with Castro "dry humping" Joe Roe, the lawsuit says.

Then, later in 2020, John and James Doe rejoined Joe Roe at sleepovers at Castro’s home. The sexual behavior allegedly continued during these sleepovers.

On May 17, 2021, parents and families of Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School received an email stating in part:

"There has been an allegation that one of our staff members engaged inappropriately with a student. This employee has been removed from the school, and an investigation has been initiated by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)."

The parents of the three boys became suspicious and confronted them about their time with Castro. The three denied that anything wrong happened while they were with him. Castro allegedly stopped being a teacher at the school shortly after the email from the school was sent and was suspended from teaching.

The minors then learned about another boy who accused Castro of inappropriately touching him. John Doe and Joe Roe allegedly asked Castro about the rumors, and Castro admitted that the boy had accused him of inappropriate behavior. He also allegedly told the boys that he could not go back to school until his accuser graduated.

Castro said the other boy accused him because he would not change his grade. Even though Castro was suspended from teaching at the elementary school, he continued to have contact with the three boys and had them over for sleepovers. At this time, all inappropriate "games" with the boys had allegedly stopped.

The boys' parents were unaware that Castro was the teacher who was suspended due to inappropriate behavior and allowed the children to go to Castro's apartment.

Castro eventually moved to a new apartment that had an indoor pool in the building and the minors continued to visit him at his new home.

Castro allegedly used the time in the pool with the minors to grab their private parts. At that point, Castro allegedly resumed all sexualizing behavior with the minors.

In one instance, Castro sexually abused James Doe after giving Castro a massage. Following that incident, James Doe stopped going to his apartment.

The next time James Doe joined the other minors and Castro was when they went to "Five Below." Castro allowed them to pick out some items. James Doe allegedly picked up something a little more expensive and told Castro he would pay him back.

When they got back to Castro's apartment, Castro allegedly isolated James Doe and told him he didn't have to pay him back. Instead, the lawsuit states that Castro allegedly raped him.

Soon after, James Doe stopped going to see Castro altogether and became withdrawn. He also started to self-harm, the lawsuit says.

In April 2022, James Doe tried to confront Castro via text. However, Castro allegedly avoided the topic. James Doe also attempted to see a school counselor, but didn't know how to open up about the abuse, according to the lawsuit.

Around the same time, Anjum Siddiqui, an attorney from the Office of the Inspector General for the Chicago Board of Education, emailed John and James Doe’s parents to let them know that John Doe was "identified as having been involved in or possibly witnessing an incident of inappropriate behavior by that staff member," who they were alerted of in the May 17, 2021, email.

Attorney Siddiqui planned to contact John Doe via phone during his school hours with his parents’ permission. John Doe allegedly shared the email with Castro and Castro convinced him to lie to Attorney Siddiqui to protect Castro’s teaching license.

Attorney Siddiqui did call the school and John Doe was put alone in the principal’s office to speak with Attorney Siddiqui. John Doe allegedly lied to Attorney Siddiqui as requested by Castro, the lawsuit says.

Also in 2022, Castro moved to another location in Chicago. When John Doe was over at that apartment, the lawsuit says that Castro allegedly offered $100 to have sex with him. John Doe refused.

In May 2023, John and James Doe’s father, Jack Doe, discovered that James Doe was harming himself and Miriam Doe had a one-on-one conversation with James Doe, where he confided in her about what went on with Castro, the lawsuit says.

Miriam Doe informed Jack and Jane Doe of the sexual abuse, and they called Chicago police to report it. One of the investigating detectives allegedly informed the Doe family that Castro had four prior complaints of sexual abuse, which CPD is required to report to the Chicago Board of Education.

Shortly after Jack and Jane Doe reported this to CPD, Castro was arrested and charged with predatory criminal sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child.

Castro is being held without bond and waiting for a resolution of his criminal case.

The lawsuit also claims that the Chicago Board of Education, CPS District 299 and the elementary school failed to protect the minors involved in this case.

"We as parents need to demand better, and our schools need to do better," said Attorney Larry Disparti.

The next status hearing in Castro's criminal case is scheduled for Feb. 15.

The next court date in the civil lawsuit is scheduled for Feb. 27.