The recording of sexual activity from inside the Sandridge Elementary School's principal's office has some officials worried that other offices may be bugged as well.
Sandridge Elementary District 172 Superintendent Diane Dyer-Dawson voiced concerns Tuesday about the possibility of unauthorized surveillance occurring in other places at school such as her office, the special education office and the media center.
School Board meetings are usually held in the media center, and the board's closed-door discussions also take place there or in the superintendent's office.
Dyer-Dawson's concerns come after a DVD recording began circulating last week showing former Principal Leroy Coleman, a 56-year-old Flossmoor resident, and science teacher Janet Lofton, a 41-year-old resident of Lynwood, engaged in sexual activity at various times and dates in Coleman's office.
Another woman, identified as teacher's aide and substitute teacher Anjayla Reed, also appears in the recording on a separate occasion with Coleman.
Cook County Sheriff's Department police have not found the camera, and have been working to find out who may have been responsible for its placement. Investigators talked to Dyer-Dawson about the camera, which may have been placed in a heating duct above Coleman's office.
The superintendent said she does not really have any feelings about who may have put the camera there. But her feelings about other recording devices being in the school are clear -- Dyer-Dawson is uncomfortable about the possibility and eventually would like all of the school's offices checked.
Had someone with information about Coleman and the teachers' actions come to Dyer-Dawson with the information, "maybe half of those acts wouldn't have occurred," she said, because the matter would have been investigated and action would have been taken.
"I think they should have shared it with me," Dyer-Dawson said, adding she hopes the matter will soon come to closure.
For more information:
The District 172 School Board will have a special meeting at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the school gymnasium.
