Published: March 04, 2011

Did School Union Officials Hide An Illinois Teacher's Sex Crime?

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Matthew Lang, a longtime high school band instructor from southwestern Illinois, was sentenced to prison last year for having sex with a 16-year-old student.

The victim's mother, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, sued her daughter's school district, Alton Community Schools, claiming that district officials had been warned about a possible sexual affair, yet failed to take proper action to protect her child.

But the story goes further back.

Jane Doe is also suing Lang's previous employer, O'Fallon Community Schools, and its teachers union, the O'Fallon Federation of Teachers, claiming officials from both entities knew, or should have known, that Lang had a sexual affair with a minor student before he resigned and took the job in nearby Alton.

It's a legally accepted fact that Lang engaged in a sexual affair with an O'Fallon high school student several years ago, and later married her when she graduated from college, according to newspaper reports.

Doe's lawsuit claims that O'Fallon school and union officials purposefully failed to inform Alton school officials about that situation. That prompted Alton officials to hire Lang in good faith, only to have him molest the 16-year-old within a few years, according to the lawsuit.

Officials from the O'Fallon school district and teachers union deny those accusations in court documents, and we have no evidence to prove they're lying.

But it's clear from a document we obtained that O'Fallon union officials wanted school officials to conspire with them to hide the truth about the nature of Lang's departure from the public and potential employers.

And according to an accusation in Doe's lawsuit, O'Fallon school officials met with Alton school officials prior to Lang's hiring and led them to believe he had been an exemplary employee.

All of this might lead some to wonder if Lang's story is a horrific illustration of the "Dance of the Lemons." That term refers to school administrators and unions allowing bad teachers to quietly resign and continue their damage in other districts, because tenure laws make it too difficult and expensive to fire them.

"The mindset of most administrators and school boards is that they need to solve their own problems, and often that means making your problem someone else's," said Illinois State Rep. Jerry Mitchell, a former school administrator, in a 2007 interview with the Small Newspaper Group.

"That can mean giving a good reference to someone you want to get rid of. We ought to be as concerned about children in other schools districts as we are about those in our own."

Should Alton officials have been warned?

Lang was arrested in August, 2009 for allegedly having sexual relations with a 16-year-old Alton High School student.

According to local media reports, he engaged in sexual activity with the girl at the school, his home and her home.

He was originally charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. In August, 2010 he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Lang is now separated from society, but the legal battle over his actions continues to boil.

In her amended lawsuit, Jane Doe suggests that O'Fallon school administrators and O'Fallon Federation of Teachers officials purposefully hid their knowledge of Lang's sexual history when Alton school officials were considering him for the position of band director.

"While a band director (at O'Fallon), said Matthew Lang had a sexual relationship with Eden Lang while she was a minor in violation of Illinois criminal statutes and maintained that relationship until said minor married Matthew Lang approximately one to two years ago," the lawsuit said.

"The O'Fallon school district knew or should have known about the above-mentioned improprieties."

We obtained Lang's personnel file from the O'Fallon school district through a freedom of information request.

Within that file is a Jan. 8, 2007 memo from the union to school officials, clearly proposing that the district misinform potential employers and the public about the true nature of Lang's forced resignation.

The memo does not indicate the real reasons for the resignation. A copy of the memo can be read by clicking here.

Union wanted dirt swept under the rug

"The board has requested the resignation of Matt Lang from the positions of band director and department head," the union memo said. "Matt Lang has agreed to submit the letter provided the board and/or administration agree to the following:

"Matt Lang's personnel file currently contains only positive evaluations and is free of any letters of discipline and/or negative criticism. Matt Lang is currently seeking employment in other districts. In light of this information, we are asking that all information concerning the request for his resignation not be placed in his file.

"School districts may contact (O'Fallon) for a recommendation on the performance of Matt Lang. The (union) would like the administration to provide a favorable recommendation on his behalf.

"The position of band director is a prominent public position and Matt's sudden and unexpected departure could have considerable and negative fallout. In an attempt to protect the morale of all involved, to minimize rumors and speculation, and to create a positive atmosphere for the future band director, an agreed upon explanation for Matt's departure must be presented to the community.

"Matt is going to state that he is leaving because he would like to explore personal and professional goals including the acquisition of his master's degree. The (union) would like the school to provide the same reasoning to all inquiries."

The memo was signed by Lang and Martha Kahlert Weld, president of the O'Fallon teachers union.

We have found no direct letter of response from school administrators to the union memo. But we did obtain a letter of recommendation for Lang, written on May 7, 2007 by Stephen Dirnbeck, the principal of O'Fallon Township High School.

"It is with great pleasure that I write this letter of recommendation for Matthew Lang," Dirnbeck wrote. "Matt is an outstanding instructor in instrumental music. I wholeheartedly recommend him for any position he may seek in the music education field."

Alleged meeting also troublesome

According to the lawsuit, officials from Alton and O'Fallon actually met to discuss Lang before he was hired at Alton.

Ironically, the meeting allegedly took place because Alton school officials wanted to be extra careful about their next band director, because the previous one had engaged in sexual relations with minor students.

"Following his resignation, Matthew Lang applied for band directorship at Alton Community Unit School District #11," the lawsuit said.

"Two representatives of the Alton school district and Matthew Lang met with the superintendent of and principal at O'Fallon High School concerning the background of Matthew Lang and O'Fallon's recommendations concerning Matthew Lang as a future band director for Alton school district.

"The O'Fallon officials indicated that the only difficulty was that Matthew Lang was having problems filling the shoes of a previous band director that had, for years, been referred to as 'God' by students, officials and parents in the band program because of his success; that this was the only reason why there was any dissatisfaction with O'Fallon and Matthew Lang.

"At no time did O'Fallon school district officials inform Alton school district of Matthew Lang's relationship with a student or with the other above-mentioned problems.

"The Alton School district would not have hired Matthew Lang had they been told of the truth concerning Matthew Lang's background."

The lawsuit does not mention the Paxton-Buckley-Loda school district in Paxton, Illinois, where Lang worked before O'Fallon. We obtained a copy of his personnel file from that district, which contained nothing unusual.

But a reader of the website "badbadteachers.com" wrote the following in regard to Lang's recent criminal conviction.

"No surprise here. He was forced out at a previous school (Paxton-Buckley-Loda) in Paxton, Illinois for doing that same thing. The guy is a complete scumbag."

Unions defend even the worst

We obtained from the local sheriff's department a copy of a Dec. 8, 2006 letter sent by O'Fallon administrators to Lang, outlining the reasons for his forced resignation.

The long list includes an accusation that Lang failed to inform administrators about one of his band assistants acting in a sexually inappropriate manner toward female students, which resulted in a conviction and prison sentence for the assistant.

The letter did not mention Lang's illegal sexual relationship with his future wife when she was a high school student.

But in a separate document, written by Lang, he lists "my relationship with Eden" (his former student and wife) as one of the reasons for his forced resignation.

If O'Fallon school and union officials were aware of Lang's sexual relationship with a student, why would they agree to cover for him, help him find another job and put themselves in possible legal jeopardy?

Even if they didn't know about the sex crime, why would they recommend a teacher who was asked to resign for many reasons, mostly related to a perceived lack of professionalism?

One likely explanation is that teachers unions do indeed work hard to protect the very worst of their members.

Perhaps their idea of "due process" is to give every offending member a chance to get away with their crimes, regardless of the consequences for other students.

"Legally the union doesn't have to take every case we make against a teacher," Stephen Robinson, an attorney representing several Rhode Island school districts, told the Hoover (Institution) Digest. "But they do. They will defend even the worst offenders."

The tenure problem

The biggest culprit may be Illinois' tenure statute, which makes it extremely difficult and expensive for school districts to go through the process of firing tenured teachers, regardless of their indiscretions.

One recent estimate said it costs an Illinois district an average of $219,000 in legal bills to fire a tenured teacher.

School administrators often find it cheaper and easier to negotiate a resignation with the union, complete with a promise to give the offending teacher a positive recommendation for another job.

It's called the "dance of the lemons" or "passing the trash" in the education community. It apparently happens quite frequently, sometimes even in cases of sexual misconduct.

In 1996, Derek Babcock, an elementary teacher from LaSalle County, Illinois, was accused of molestating a student over the course of several years. He agreed to resign, in exchange for a written agreement that prevented school administrators from sharing details of his alleged crime with potential future employers.

Babcock went on to teach again, according to a 2007 story published by the Small Newspaper Group.

"School superintendents are like water - they will always take the easiest route," said former Illinois State School Superintendent Ted Sanders. "They want to avoid the cost of litigation.

"In a perfect world, these cases would be reported to the teacher certification board and the teacher would never set foot in a classroom again. But a superintendent's main concern is getting rid of their problem, even if it leaves children in another school district or another state vulnerable."

Steve Gunn writes for Education Action Group Foundation.