Parents in Evergreen Park, Illinois, are expressing their concerns after a substitute teacher, who had been employed at various schools within the Chicago Archdiocese, was dismissed from his position.

This action followed the revelation that the teacher had previously faced accusations of child molestation.

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The Chicago Archdiocese has defended its hiring practices, noting that the teacher had successfully passed all required background checks despite the allegations.

Last Wednesday, Evergreen Park police reported that parents came forward with alarming information regarding a substitute teacher at Queen of Martyrs School.

According to the police, parents discovered that the teacher had a history involving allegations of child sexual abuse, and one family reported a potential incident involving their child during his tenure at the school.

“It’s disturbing. There’s, there’s no other words to say it. Besides, it’s disturbing,” one parent said.

The parent has asked to remain unnamed. He works at ABC7 Chicago.

He’s concerned with the fact that a man with a history of troubling allegations levied against him would be employed by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“Parents of our school and parents of all the schools in the archdiocese should have questions for them. I just hope that the archdiocese is forthcoming with these questions, and hopefully we can get some answers and improvements to their hiring process,” the parent said.

ABC7 Chicago has not named the employee because it was not clear if he has been charged with any crimes in the Chicago area.

The archdiocese says he’s gone by a number of different names, and even legally changed it at one point.

The archdiocese says he’d only worked at Queen of Martyrs for a couple of weeks, but previously worked as a long-term sub at St. Walter-St. Benedict School, served as a private tutor for another family enrolled at a south suburban Catholic School and worked as an employee of a third-party vendor assigned to Pope John Paul II School.

In a letter to parents, the Archdiocese of Chicago said, “Despite his history of allegations in Illinois and other states, he passed state background and fingerprint checks at the beginning of his employment in the Archdiocese in 2024.”

The archdiocese says it knows of no allegations of sexual misconduct by the teacher during his time at any of its schools.

The teacher has been relieved of his duties and barred from school grounds.

Evergreen Park police say there is an active and ongoing investigation, and ask anyone with information to give them a call at (708) 422-2142.