Mayor Lightfoot Appoints New Park District Board President In Wake Of Leadership Shakeup Prompted By Lifeguard Sex Abuse Scandal
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Months after the top two officials at the Chicago Park District resigned amid a sweeping lifeguard sex abuse scandal, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has tapped a former top deputy at the Chicago Public Schools as the new Park District Board President.
Lightfoot announced her choice of former CPS deputy chief of schools Myetie Hamilton as Chicago Park District Board President on Wednesday. The board's vice president, Tim King, formally nominated Hamilton at Wednesday's meeting, and the board unanimously approved her appointment.
"I'm proud to support Myetie Hamilton as Park District Board President and I'm confident she will be an excellent leader for the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners," Lightfoot said in a statement. "With over two decades of experience in education and the public sector, I trust that Myetie will bring the skills and qualities needed to guide the system of the more than 600 parks in our city and strengthen our neighborhoods while improving the trust between our residents and the Park District."
Hamilton said she "enthusiastically" accepted her appointment as board president at the end of Wednesday's meeting.
"As a South Side native, and as a mother of teenage girls, I know firsthand the critical importance of our parks, the role that our programs play within our communities to strengthen our communities, and I also know that our parks serve as safe havens for so many young people, especially those living in our most marginalized communities," she said.
Hamilton has been a Park District board member since September. Before that she served for more than two years as executive director of City Year Chicago , a nonprofit student mentoring program that serves CPS students. She previously spent 18 years in various management and executive positions at CPS, finishing her career in the school district as deputy chief of schools for Network 9, which includes 26 schools on the South Side.
She replaces former Park District Board President Avis Lavelle, who resigned last November, amid the fallout from the lifeguard sex abuse scandal that also led to the ouster of Park District General Superintendent and CEO Mike Kelly in October.
While Lavelle insisted she was not forced out, her resignation came only after at least three aldermen called for her to step down, in the wake of scathing reports that found district management failed to properly investigate widespread claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and bullying involving Park District lifeguards.
In November, a quarterly report by the Chicago Park District Office of the Inspector General and an independent report by the Arnold & Porter Law Firm detailed years of abuse in the aquatics division of the parks, describing a "code of silence" within the district.
According to an independent investigator's report, Kelly took no action until six months after he had received a complaint about abuse from the parents of a female lifeguard.
One report by the Arnold & Porter Law Firm and a separate report by the district's inspector general 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.
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
In announcing her resignation, Lavelle apologized for the scandal.
"I am deeply sorry for the culture of abuse and harassment that was allowed to fester in the beaches and pools division of the Chicago Park District. It is apparent that this went on many years, even decades before I joined the park district board. I take responsibility because it came to light on my watch," she said.
Hamilton did not directly address the scandal after she was appointed, but did talk about the need to restore trust in the Park District.
"I believe that this is a rare opportunity for us. It's an opportunity in a time of change, and to forge a path forward in restoring trust and also advancing equity across our parks that will bring empowerment to our neighborhoods," she said.
Meantime, Lightfoot has yet to name a permanent replacement for Kelly, who resigned last October after the mayor demanded his resignation for his mishandling of the scandal.
Former Chicago Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Rosa Escareño is serving as interim Park District CEO and General Superintendent while Lightfoot searches for a permanent replacement. Shortly after taking over at the Park District, 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.
Kelly's resignation came just weeks after Chicago Park District Inspector General Elaine Little resigned amid her office's ongoing investigation into widespread sexual harassment targeting female lifeguards.
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 in March 2020.
So far, one former lifeguard has been charged criminally in connection with the scandal. Former Park District supervisor Mauricio Ramirez was first charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who worked as a lifeguard last summer, and was subsequently been arrested for sexually assaulting another teenage girl several times starting eight years ago.
A total of 16 Park District employees have now been fired or prevented from being rehired since this started, while at least four employees are still under emergency suspension as investigations continue.
CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov has put in a request to sit down with the new Park District board president to ask what changes she hopes to make.