Chicago Park District Board appoints interim CEO Rosa Escareño to permanent post
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Seven months after she was tapped as the interim head of the Chicago Park District, Rosa Escareño was given the job on a permanent basis on Wednesday, as the district continues trying to rebuild public trust in the wake of a lifeguard sex abuse scandal.
The Chicago Park District Board on Wednesday named Escareño the full-time CEO and general superintendent.
She was given the job on an interim basis in October, following the ouster of longtime CEO and general superintendent Mike Kelly.
In a statement, Escareño said she was "humbled and excited" to take on the top job at the Park District on a permanent basis.
"Over the past seven months, I have had the opportunity to engage and empower our workforce and be reminded of the how incredibly important parks are to the fabric and success of our city, particularly for our children and their families who rely on our services. The work we do to improve lives through recreational interests and grow healthy environments for our workers and residents is vital to strengthening every community and building up Chicago's future generations," she said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who had recommended Escareño for the post, praised the Park District Board for approving her to the permanent job.
"This approval is proof of the hard work, dedication, and commitment Superintendent Escareño and her team have demonstrated these past few months to the Chicago Park District and throughout her more than three decades of experience serving our communities." Lightfoot said in a statement. "I am proud of Superintendent Escareño's work and devotion to excellence which all our residents need and deserve. Superintendent Escareño knows that our parks are a vital lifeline for our residents as well as the jewel of most communities, and that she must focus on making key investments in our South and West side parks in particular. I am confident Superintendent Escareño will continue to provide critical and much-needed leadership and services to all our residents across the 600 Chicago parks."
Kelly resigned as the district's CEO and general superintendent in October, just hours after Lightfoot called on the Park District Board to "immediately" fire him over his handling of a sex abuse scandal involving lifeguards at the city's beaches and pools.
At the time, Lightfoot said she had urged the Park District Board to fire Kelly at a closed-door meeting Friday on Kelly's handling of claims of systemic sexual harassment and abuse of women and girls who worked as lifeguards at the district's beaches and pools.
"In that meeting, I urged the Board to remove from office the General Superintendent and CEO of the Park District, Mike Kelly, for cause," Lightfoot said at the time. "The culture of sexual abuse, harassment, and coercion that has become pervasive within the District's Aquatics Department lifeguard program under his leadership, combined with the Superintendent's lack of urgency or accountability as new facts have come to light, is unacceptable. Despite prior claims of new training, new procedures, and new personnel, the failings of the current Park District Administration's response to new allegations of harm to a child persists and simply cannot be tolerated one day longer. Therefore, in my estimation, it is time for new leadership immediately."
Escareño was handed the reins of the Park District just months after she retired from city government at the end of July, following more than 30 years in various roles at City Hall, including four years as commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.
She took over as interim CEO at the Park District amid at least two ongoing investigations into claims of widespread sexual harassment and abuse of women and girls who worked as lifeguards at the district's beaches and pools.
Weeks after she took office, the Chicago Park District fired three senior managers following the release of two reports that detailed sexual assaults among Park District lifeguards – and claim Kelly took no action until six months after he had received a complaint about abuse.
The Third Quarter Report by the Chicago Park District Office of the Inspector General and an independent report by the Arnold & Porter Law Firm in November detailed multiple sexual assault claims by Park District lifeguards and what the Park District called "egregious mishandling of complaints" by management – as well as organizational failures that made it so the victims were not protected.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported at the time, the reports detailed scathing accusations of everything from sexual harassment to bullying among Chicago lifeguards, One woman called it a "culture" of violence and claimed there was a "code of silence."
Read The Reports Below (Warning: Reports contain offensive language and detailed descriptions of assault and abuse)
Report By Park District Office Of The Inspector General
Report By Arnold & Porter Law Firm
After those reports were released, Escareño asked for the resignation of Park District Chief Programming Officer Alonzo Williams, who was notified by Kelly about a sexual misconduct complaint as early as August 2019 and did not take corrective action. Escareño also fired two senior managers –Assistant Director of Recreation Eric Fischer and Beaches and Pools Unit Manager Adam Bueling – for also failing to take proper action with regard to sexual misconduct allegations.
The latter two top managers were both were placed on emergency suspension last month, based on information Kelly received from the inspector general.
Kelly's resignation in October came just weeks after Chicago Park District Inspector General Elaine Little resigned amid her office's ongoing investigation into the sexual abuse scandal.
Little's resignation came after WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio reported Little was herself under an investigation into "alleged conflicts and wrongdoing" upon leaving a post as director of investigations at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center three years ago.
In August, Kelly said the investigation by Little's office had resulted in disciplinary action against 42 employees since the probe into harassment among lifeguards began last March.
The inspector general's probe – first disclosed by WBEZ – began in March 2020, when Kelly turned over a complaint he received from a former lifeguard, who described a toxic environment at Oak Street Beach, accusing fellow lifeguards of subjecting her and others to sexual harassment, and sexual and physical abuse. She also reported witnessing rampant drug and alcohol use by fellow lifeguards.
Kelly did not turn that letter over to the inspector general until six weeks after he received it, and last month he defended his decision, saying he first turned over the complaint to his management team.
Meantime, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has opened a criminal investigation into the scandal, and has publicly asked for any victims of sexual abuse or assault at the Park District to come forward.
So far, two former Park District lifeguard supervisors have been charged with sexually assaulting girls who worked as lifeguards.
Hector Coz, 25, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old lifeguard while she was working at a Jefferson Park pool in 2018.
Prosecutors say, while Coz and the victim were working at the Jefferson Memorial Park swimming pool in July or August of 2018, he sexually assaulted the girl by rubbing her breasts under her swimsuit and penetrating her vagina with his fingers while restraining her against her will.
Another lifeguard supervisor, 32-year-old Mauricio Ramirez, is charged with multiple sexual assaults against at least two Park District lifeguards.
Prosecutors have said Ramirez sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl who worked as a lifeguard during the summer of 2021, and also repeatedly sexually assaulted another 16-year-old girl who was working as a lifeguard in 2013 and 2014.
According to prosecutors, in the case from this summer, after a 16-year-old girl began working under his supervision last July, despite knowing she was only 16 years old, Ramirez repeatedly picked up the girl from school or work in his car, and sexually assaulted her. He also once snuck into her house at 2 a.m. and drove her to his house to sexually assault her.
After the girl came forward about the abuse, a DNA test matched Ramirez to a rape kit collected from the victim, and he was charged with sexual assault and abuse.
In the other case, prosecutors say Ramirez and a 16-year-old girl met at a party in July 2013, where she had been drinking alcohol, and he offered to drive her home, but instead took her to a motel, where he sexually assaulted her while she was intoxicated. He continued to sexually assault her three to five times a week over the next few months.
After school started that fall, and the girl stopped working as a lifeguard for the year, she did not see Ramirez again until the next summer, when she resumed working as a lifeguard, and he resumed sexually assaulting the girl three to five times a week for months.
After the victim told her boyfriend about the assaults in 2015, nothing was done until late October or early November of 2021, when a friend sent the girl an article regarding Ramirez' arrest for the other sexual assault case, and the victim filed reports with police, prosecutors, and the Park District's inspector general.