Posted on 01/30/2005 7:42:24 PM PST by inzone
A longtime elementary-school band teacher's arrest on sexual abuse charges--and conflicting accounts from police and school officials about who might have known what and when--has left many in working-class Berwyn wondering what the story really is.
As Robert Sperlik Jr., 45, remains held without bail in Cook County Jail, many residents are expressing support for him and questioning the charges, which some believe have been exaggerated.
"I am skeptical of this," said Michelle Nafziger, 41, who attended Morton West High School in the late 1970s, when Sperlik was a drummer in the school band. "He's being made out to be some monster, and I've known him to be a fine teacher who's taught all my kids to play an instrument.
"I feel like there's a witch hunt going on," she said.
Sperlik, a bachelor and baseball fan, lived with his parents in Berwyn all his life until moving to nearby North Riverside in 1998, acquaintances say. He is accused of sexually abusing five female pupils between 1999 and 2003.
According to police, Sperlik has confessed in writing to touching the girls after tying and duct-taping them to desks at Pershing and Irving Elementary Schools. Because he allegedly restrained the girls, all of whom were under 13 at the time of the alleged assaults, Sperlik also is facing multiple counts of kidnapping.
Berwyn Director of Public Safety Frank Marzullo has said that as many as 29 other potential victims have come forward with allegations.
On Tuesday, Marzullo said personnel records showed that officials at South Berwyn School District 100 reprimanded Sperlik in 2001 for "inappropriate touching" of pupils but never notified police or the state Department of Children and Family Services as required by law.
On Thursday, Berwyn police said they have a copy of a letter written by a former pupil in 1999 alleging that Sperlik sexually abused her. The girl, then 10, allegedly wrote the letter to a psychologist who was visiting the school at the time.
The family of that girl, who is now 15, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday charging that District 100 officials never showed her parents the letter and told them it alleged only non-sexual touching.
A District 100 attorney acknowledges the letter exists but denies that it makes any mention of alleged sexual abuse. Neither school officials nor police will release the letter.
Thomas Melody, the attorney, said school officials did not believe contact between Sperlik and pupils warranted notification of police or DCFS.
"If it appeared to us that something bad was happening to a kid, we would have reported it," he said. "We understand when we have to report to DCFS."
Under a 30-year-old state law, school officials are mandated to report all suspected child abuse or neglect to police and DCFS. School officials made 5,008 such reports to authorities in Cook County in 2004, according to a DCFS spokeswoman.
But according to a DCFS spokeswoman, if District 100 officials reprimanded Sperlik in 2001 for "inappropriate touching," they had a responsibility to report it to authorities.
"The key word is `inappropriate,'" said Diane Jackson. "If children wrote and said we have a problem with how we were treated, and if the school felt that some actions were inappropriate, and they did not act on that, something's wrong there."
Other area school officials said they err on the side of reporting alleged abuse.
"I don't think it's ever in the district's best interest to keep it in-house," said Gail Crantz, spokeswoman for Oak Park District 97. "It's not good for the kid, it's not good for the [employee] involved. It's not good practice."
The issue of whether Berwyn school officials should have reported the allegations in 2001 touched off a firestorm in Berwyn, where more than 500 parents attended an emotional District 100 School Board meeting Wednesday night, and elected officials got into a heated argument with political candidates at a City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Sunday morning, Berwyn's city clerk, who is running for mayor this spring, will hold a news conference with an allied state representative and senator calling for increased penalties for people who do not report alleged child abuse to authorities. A press release announcing the event contends that District 100 School Board members knew of the allegations against Sperlik in 2001.
After so much back and forth, many people in Berwyn aren't sure whom or what to believe.
"We're just shocked that [Sperlik] could be accused of these crimes," said Patricia Paolicchi, a former PTA member at Emerson and Heritage Schools in District 100. "What did he confess to? I don't know. I have to hear Mr. Sperlik's side."
Frank Mastny, 51, whose four children were all taught by Sperlik and whose youngest daughter is a member of TakeTen, a percussion ensemble that practices in Sperlik's basement, said he also wonders about the sort of contact Sperlik had with his alleged victims.
"For a music teacher who's teaching kids how to play instruments, it seems impossible not to touch them," said Mastny.
Many parents of former District 100 band students also wonder if there's another explanation for why Sperlik would have allegedly bound some of his pupils with duct tape.
Marzullo said Sperlik "received gratification by watching them tied up," but band parents said their children regularly use duct tape in playful hazing rituals among members of the Morton West band. "Hold your horses, folks," said Dominic Tarullo, a 54-year-old parent of four, all of whom went through the District 100 band program. "Let's see what's going on here."
Other area school officials said they err on the side of reporting alleged abuse.
Oh yeah, right! The education establishment does everything it can to protect its' employees. How many times have we heard of an employee "leaving" only to turn up at some other school doing the same inappropriate thing. Their reporting of these types of situations are a joke.
this needs to be really investigated. Careers and lives can also be ruined by false allegations.
Sperlik, a bachelor and baseball fan, lived with his parents in Berwyn all his life until moving to nearby North Riverside in 1998, ......
Marzullo said Sperlik "received gratification by watching them tied up," but band parents said their children regularly use duct tape in playful hazing rituals among members of the Morton West band......
two things that stick out to me.
and I wonder where the kids got the idea to use duct tape?
things that make you go, hummmmm
Duct tape is routinely used in band. Sometimes a little piece of it helps the percussions to not ring as much. Sometimes some of the wind instruments aren't sealed at seams or something happens that air leaks out in places it shouldn't and a piece of duct tape temporarily does the trick, and so on. As far as the playful hazing ritual - yes this occurs with some of the freshman guys. It has been more goofing around than a true hazing. My son laughed his head off when it was done to him. It is a sad day when kids can't playfully goof around. When my son told them to take the tape off they joked around a little then took it off. No big deal. Guess it will be a big deal now though! Any goofing around will now be under scrutiny. Too bad for the kids. Heck I have playfully put tape on my own kids mouth. I have even wacked them with cardboard tubes from wrapping paper, squirted whipped cream unexpectedly at them, and a whole host of other goofing around. They have done some water balloon throwing and such things to me. Guess someone could make something perverted out of that!
I'm not sure about the "received gratification" part. This is another thing that I would be interested in seeing the facts. Marzullo - like other politicians, will say whatever makes people take notice. This guy is certainly fueling the flames with his comments to parents and media. Some of his words seem very embellished and biased. Is he reporting the facts? Since my children were taught by Mr. Sperlik and it is troubling that we could be wrong about someone we trusted, respected, and admired. Things just do not ring true with the media and politicians rhetoric. Rather than take the media at face and word value we prefer to see what facts come out in the actual trial.
So, let me get this straight. Being a bachelor, and a baseball fan, and living with your parents until late in life makes you a possible candidate for a child molestor? hmmmm, a lot of people in todays day and age sure fit that criteria. All I am saying is take a look at how the media hyped everything up to create a lynch mob mentality. Believe me there are many better pictures of Mr. Sperlik that they did not choose to use. The main picture shown is one that makes him look like a wierdo. He does not look like that - but true pics wouldn't help their goal. With that said, if the facts support all the allegations than the girl who came forward is very brave and my heart goes out to any of the children harmed. It's just disgusting how the media was so obvious about their embellishments and how people immediately went into a frenzy without giving things some thought.
Don't forget, he's a drummer too.
You are so right Ex-hippie. Whether guilty or innocent of the allegations his career as he knows it is over. I am just telling people to scrutinize the information put forth by the mainstream media. People are so quick to absorb what is put before them without mindful scrutiny. Yes these allegations could be in fact true. But they could be false also. The possibility of them being false was only presented in the weekly, small town paper. Not the front page of Tribune or Sun Times or News casts like the allegations and only angry people were.
Aww, darn I forgot about that. Yeah he is a drummer. Come to think of it we have family members who are drummers. Some have even lived a little too long at home...I am straying from my main point. If this story was that blatently biased to several of the district band parents that know this teacher then how gullible are we to other news hype! Absolutely not unbiased reporting. It was more like something you'd see in a National Enquirer or something. This is not to say that some of their embellishments might not have some truths it was just disgusting how one sided it was.
...anyone, especially a teacher, stupid enough to duct tape children as a restraint, for fun or whatever DOES deserve to be investigated,even without allegations.
I can agree with you about that.
...living with your parents until late in life is totally normal,not.
Don't agree with you about that.
Again, we'll have to see the real facts. But, no, I would not want any adult to duct tape my children for any reason. If such things truly occured then he will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Hence the possibility of kidnapping charges for such restraint in IL. I am just saying that after years of dealing with this man and my children being taught by him this seems incredibly uncharacteristic to all the members in my family. I do not want to succumb to the lynch mob frenzy so easily with such bizarre allegations. Guess people have different ways of handling info. put out to them by the news.
In suppose I was infering the stereotypical implications as it were. ala Norman Bates. no offence and no frenzy here!
I have had Mr Sperlik as a band teacher since i was in 4th grade. I am now a junior in high school, and up until the night he was arrested my fellow band students and i enjoyed participating in Take Ten the percussion ensable he led. I have never in my entire life felt at risk of him, or uncomfortable, and if anyone, he would have done something to me, i was the innocent type, unknowing, shy, and chested. But never has he EVER done anything to me or any other of my fellow students. he was the reason I stuck with band, playing clarinet, and eventually Sax and percussion. He was and still is a great man! when the school we always practiced at got rid of their band room, he moved all equipment to his house, so that we wouldnt have to lose something great. Every Monday a group of us would go over to his house and practice, and nothing in his house was discriminating or inappropriate. He was a great teacher, and everything that is going on is just wrong. the week after he was arrested our group was supposed to go to chicago and perform for judges, then later in the year we were going to have the biggest concert ever. last year was the 20th anniversary of the group, and he headed it every year. We invited all of the past students to perform with us and over 50 came! so tell me... does it seem like hes that bad of a guy?
big deal he lived with his parents... the thing most people dont know is his parents were sick, the mother close to death, and the father scared shitless. plus the school he worked at was right down the street, so go figure, living at the parents house makes him a sexual abuser..
The duct taping? it was a long held tradition between all of the band students. i myself participated in it. sperlik never took part in it, he even said it was a bad thing to do, telling us to stop. (sounds like a bad guy huh?) he had nothing to do with it, all of this crap probably started after a girl was duct taped and just wanted attention, saying the teacher did it... its wrong, how can people ruin others lives? i just dont understand.
he was a great teacher, and was like a father to me, and many MANY other kids. so tell me, how can a man who is so great be so bad? its not possible.
about his basement? he converted it into a percussion rehersal studio so we could practice.
nice of you to join just to talk to me.
as I said to "inzone" I have made no accusations. yet, In this world today, with as many freaks as there are out there wandering around looking for young innocent victims, one cannot be too careful.
what has transpired since this first started? charges dropped? did he lose his job?
hope you'll stick around and learn. this is a truly wonderful place to learn about the real world. not just what they feed you in a government school or on the liberal media.
Why would ANY good male want to be a teacher these days???? It's asking for trouble.
Probably not the best choice of words.
Wow, blast from the past. So, any updates?
Ah, here we go:
20 years for pupil abuse
Ex-instructor admits guilt in a plea
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/southsouthwest/chi-0609080277sep08,1,2162755.story?coll=chi-newslocalssouthwest-hed
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