THE LOOP — A federal jury sided with Chicago Public Schools in its handling of a high-profile scandal involving Lincoln Park High School’s athletics program that led to the former interim principal’s ouster in 2020.
The jury deliberated for three hours Monday before reaching the verdict. As it was read at the Dirksen Federal Building in the Loop, former interim principal John Thuet looked down and clasped his hands in his lap as his attorney consoled him by patting him on the back.
Thuet had alleged he was defamed, deprived of due process and suffered emotional distress when he was fired.
Thuet’s attorneys, Matt Ryan and Terence Campbell, said in a statement they are “disappointed” in the jury’s verdict, but Thuet is “grateful” that CPS officials’ testimonies cleared his name of any sexual misconduct.
“During the trial — finally — every single member of the CPS administration who testified, from Janice Jackson on down, had to admit, under oath, that John Thuet was never alleged to have engaged in any sexual misconduct of any sort while he was the principal at Lincoln Park High School or at any other time during his tenure with CPS,” Ryan and Campbell wrote. “And he was never alleged to have engaged in any retaliation against anyone — student or adult — at Lincoln Park High School.”
Thuet, 38, was five months into his role as interim principal at Lincoln Park High School and had just interviewed for the permanent role when he was fired Jan. 31, 2020, and placed on the...
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