By Dee Longfellow
For The Elmhurst Independent
Police said that subsequent to a report of Frank J. Battaglia, 73, of Elmhurst, attending a school function at Emerson Elementary School on Feb. 7, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On Aug. 21, Battaglia was charged with “felony child sex offender in a school zone.” He was taken into custody, posted bond and was released.
Last year, Battaglia was at the center of a controversy at Lake Park High School District 108. The Lake Park High School head football coach was fired after the district said in a statement the coach “failed to follow the required criminal background process and directed an assistant football coach to remove the volunteer coach (Battaglia) from the list of names submitted to human resources for a background check.”
Even though Battaglia was a volunteer, all persons working with students, whether paid or unpaid, need to pass a background check. It is the duty of management to ensure that all background checks are being done on the relevant people when near children, no matter in which capacity. There are different types of background checks that can be done and they must be looked at carefully. If employers want to learn more about bpss checking service as well as other similar services, then they will need to do research into the area they are legally required to check, so that incidents like this do not happen again and children are continuously safe when in the care of a school.
Besides the coach being fired, the athletic director and the school principal were also subject to disciplinary action.
The incident that placed Battaglia on the registry of sexual offenders took place in 1991, when he was fired for touching the breasts of a 14-year-old girl who was a freshman at Driscoll Catholic High School in Addison. He pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teenage girl in 1992.
