Chicago City Wire

The attorney for suspended high school teacher Carl Pasowicz filed a blistering five count complaint in Cook County Circuit Court against his colleagues at the Whitney Young Magnet High School over the hanging of a black Chicago Bears doll from a cord in his classroom.

In the complaint, Pasowicz, who is white and of Polish descent, alleges that the teachers named in the complaint, all African Americans, and the Board of Education, promote a school environment that discriminates against whites - a clear violation of Illinois Human Rights Act. The complaint also alleges that one of the teachers assaulted Pasowicz over the hanging of the doll.

In the complaint, Pasowicz insists that he had no role in the doll being displayed in such an offensive manner. He said that on March 22 of last year he found the doll in the classroom where he teaches history, and placed it in a clearly visible spot in front of the classroom – as is his routine with lost items – so that its owner could reclaim it. The day back after a school holiday the doll was discovered hanging by its neck from a cord in the classroom. 

Fellow teacher, Gregory Jackson, who is Black, “willfully and wantonly attempted to hit and strike Plaintiff (Pasowicz) with intent to cause serious harm and pain,” the complaint says. “However, Defendant Gregory Jackson missed on occasion but nonetheless caused Plaintiff Carl Pasowicz to feel physically threatened, and in apprehension of receiving a battery as a result of Defendant’s misconduct.”

Pasowicz was then suspended while the school investigates the incident; a “listening session” was held for the students.

The Pasowicz complaint also alleges that the Board of Education and the administration at the high school foster a anti-white environment within  the school.

“…there are signs and posters throughout Whitney H.S. openly promoting the terrorist organization ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and unlawfully promoting dishonest racist critical theories that all American institutions and schools are racist and that African American black students and black employees of the Chicago Board of Education have been allegedly oppressed because of their black or African American race.”

The complaint continues: “Defendants have also promoted ideologies critical of Caucasians and whites along with the dishonest proposition that employees or students who are Caucasian or white are allegedly privileged because of their race.”

Among other damages, Pasowicz is asking that the defendants in the case be ordered to pay compensate him for their misconduct in an amount determined at trial.

CPS General Counsel, Dianna Mitchell, said she could not comment on pending lawsuits.

The controversy over the Chicago Bears doll is one in a series of recent missteps surrounding Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Earlier this month, the CPS Office of the Inspector General released a damning report that hundreds of Chicago Public Schools teachers sexually groomed, assaulted and raped CPS students last school year.

In December, the Mary Courtney Language Arts Center downplayed the threat surrounding an eighth grader bringing a gun to school; the school’s version and a police version of the incident were worlds apart.

The Whitney Young High School is on the Near West Side.