A teacher at a day care center in suburban Elgin has been charged with six counts of felony sexual abuse, leaving parents and students stunned and disgusted.
Frank Walaitis, 57, was charged with six counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, stemming back to incidents that occurred between Dec. 2008 and July 2022, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Authorities say that Walaitis was employed at The Learning Tree in the 2300 block of Royal Boulevard, and accuse him of sexually abusing two children under the age of 13.
“Absolute disgust. I literally have no words to really express. This is a mother’s nightmare,” one parent told NBC 5. “You think that you know when you’re dropping your children off that they’re in a safe place, that these teachers are going to be safe around your children, but apparently not.”
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Bail was set at $200,000 for Walaitis, who remains in custody at the Kane County Jail.
A parent who says that the suspect in the case was a teacher for their children expressed concern over the case, and said she would have to have conversations with her kids.
“It’s a position that you never want to have with your child, but you do have to get into details with him and ask him if ‘x, y, or z’ ever happened,” she said.
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The Learning Tree sent out an email to parents last week informing them of the arrest, but some parents say the company did not go far enough.
“I was pretty upset that the email didn’t mention the teacher’s name, other than it was a summer program teacher when he’s actually a Head Start teacher,” one parent said.
The Learning Tree issued a statement on the incident.
“The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is our highest priority,” the company said. “We are working with the authorities on this investigation. The employee had passed the state’s required background check multiple times during his employment. The employee was removed from the center as soon as the allegations were made, and his employment has been terminated.”
The case remains under investigation, and anyone with information can call the Kane County Child Advocacy Center at 630-444-3184.
