Andres Rodriguez, who is accused of shooting a man seven times following a traffic dispute in Tinley Park last year, beat out five candidates for a sixth-grade English Language Arts teaching job in August, despite his pending criminal charges and recent dismissal by nearby Cicero School District 99 over them, records show.
Lyons officials have said they were unaware of Rodriguez’s situation when they hired him, and that he passed a criminal background check including State of Illinois police, local police fingerprinting and FBI.
While job candidates convicted of certain sex, drug and violent felony crimes are automatically disqualified from contention by state statute, those with pending cases — like Rodriguez — are not flagged and not subject to revocation of their educator license, law enforcement and state board of education officials said. District 103 board member Jorge Torres said, “They failed to do the minimum,” who is critical of the board majority and its hiring practices. “This guy was let go from two places within a year. That should have been a red flag and they failed to investigate, basic phone calls.”
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