Alleged KUSD grooming teacher allowed to quit. She was hired by the Lake Forest School District and fired because of a KCE article.

KCE notified you on May 1, 2024 that a Kenosha Tremper High School teacher named Markise Jackson was under criminal investigation and was permitted to resign in lieu of termination on April 26, 2024.

KCE obtained Jackson's personnel file and the police report on his conduct. The behavior Jackson allegedly exhibited is eerily similar to that of fired and criminally charged Christian Enwright.

Since KUSD didn't fire Jackson, he did what everyone expected of him – he applied to be an elementary school teacher at Cherokee School in Lake Forest, IL. Lake Forest District 67 hired Markise and announced his hiring in an email:

A parent named Philippe Melin of Lake Forest found KCE's article about Markise and alerted the Lake Forest School District to the questionable hiring decision. Instead of acknowledging Mr. Melin's concerns and being transparent, they sent an ambiguous email with few details.

In a letter to parents dated August 20, 2024, Superintendent Matthew L. Montgomery said, among other things:

“…a District 67 employee reached out with a disturbing report about one of our newly hired teaching assistants. I would like to share a real-time update with you:

• This individual, who had no contact with students in our district and was awaiting approval from the board, was invited yesterday to participate in the orientation by District 67 staff.
  
• The staff report led to an urgent investigation that revealed the individual had allegedly behaved inappropriately toward a student in another district. The individual had misled District 67 staff on his resume and in his application process, and because no official charges were filed with authorities, the allegation did not appear on his background check or professional references.
  
• District 67 withdrew the job offer without hesitation. We are deeply grateful to the employee who reported this finding immediately after the concerning information became known.

• Although we continue our referral practices and checks on sex offender and violent offender registers, and have added social media reviews over the last year, I am still not satisfied.
• Despite strengthening our processes, I am deeply concerned about how often this issue has occurred in our districts. For this reason, I am calling for a full independent audit of our human resources hiring and screening processes. I am currently compiling third-party submissions for the Board's review. This review will determine next steps in this matter and may include disciplinary action if necessary.”

Montgomery apparently lied to parents when he said, “District 67 rescinded the job offer without hesitation.” KCE was told that Jackson was indeed hired and was in the “onboarding” process.

KCE reached out to the school board and Superintendent Montgomery. No one responded to our request for comment.

Here is a copy of Markise's “resignation in lieu of termination” letter that KUSD provided to KCE. When Jackson applied to Lake Forest in June of this year, he was asked a pointed question: “Have you ever not been hired, been asked to leave a position, resigned to avoid termination, or been terminated from your employment?” Jackson answered “NO.” He lied. In fact, he left his teaching position at Tremper High School completely off his application.

The inappropriate conduct was reported to KUSD on October 9, 2023, and KUSD took no action. Additional inappropriate conduct was reported on April 22, 2024, and Markise was asked to resign rather than be fired. KUSD's controversial human resources director, Kevin Neir, was implicated in both allegations. He opted against any disciplinary action for the first report.

Here is a summary of the allegations from both complaints in Mr. Jackson’s personnel file:

On Friday, April 19, it was the boyfriend's birthday and she brought a gift to school to give to him. Mr. Jackson seemed upset about this, as she had previously been upset in his class because she and her boyfriend had recently argued. Mr. Jackson asked why she was so nicely dressed and then said that she looked “good” in those jeans. She told him that she was going to have dinner with her boyfriend's family after school. Mr. Jackson asked the child, “Is he going to fuck you after?”, which made her very uncomfortable. Jackson told the girl, “He doesn't deserve you” and “Fuck him.” The girl went to get the gift that Jackson had confiscated, which was meant for her boyfriend, but found the gift opened, the tissue paper torn, and the balloons detached from the gift.

Mr. Jackson was accused of rubbing the shoulders of a high school student without being asked, and she reported to the district that he was constantly flirting with her. He asked her if her boyfriend minded if he rubbed her shoulders.

At least two girls reported that Jackson (in their opinion) intentionally sat with his legs spread so that people could get a glimpse of his crotch area.

Another student said that Jackson behaves “incredibly inappropriately.” She feels that Mr. Jackson only targets girls. She finds it strange how he behaves towards other students, “no other teacher behaves like that.”

When a girl told Mr. Jackson not to touch her, he told her he would give her an A on her test. Mr. Jackson also put ice cubes in the back of a student's shirt. This was caught on video.

The assistant principal of Tremper personally witnessed Mr. Jackson inappropriately grabbing a girl on the shoulder in the cafeteria.

Many witnesses were hesitant to cooperate with the KUSD investigation because they feared Jackson would find out. Ultimately, the Kenosha Police Department was assigned to investigate. A detective was assigned and began reviewing DCFS reports. Unfortunately, no prosecution could be pursued because the victim's mother told police she did not want police action or prosecution. Cases where the victim, or in this case the victim's family, do not cooperate are extremely difficult to prosecute. Often, families choose not to go through the traumatizing ordeal of being a victim in the criminal justice system.

Not surprisingly, neither Tremper Principal Steve Knecht, Communications Director Tanya Ruder nor Superintendent Jeff Weiss would tell KCE why Jackson was allowed to resign. They did not say why the school did not inform students' parents about the teacher's conduct.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, this teacher has been certified as a “short-term substitute” since October 20, 2023.

One mother told KCE she was upset because she was led to believe the teacher was fired and that Principal Steve Knecht did not inform parents about the alleged behavior. She is extremely upset about what she calls a “total lack of transparency.” She also wanted to know why the teacher was allowed to resign rather than be fired for the alleged behavior.

A Tremper student told KCE he believes this teacher already has a job in a new school district. “He was friends with most of the students through social media, gave most of the students his cell phone number for texting, and sent us videos of himself vaping via direct message.”

KCE occasionally pats himself on the back and will do so in this case as well. Without our reporting, this man in Illinois could have done something worse – grooming Primary school age students.