Students and parents of Fenton High School packed a school board meeting on Wednesday night, demanding the superintendent and the school board to resign or be fired for the handling of a now-terminated staff member accused of inappropriate criminal conduct.
Students and parents spoke emotionally and passionately to a board that elicited little reaction.
“Superintendent? Any plans for you to resign?" NBC Chicago's Evrod Cassimy said.
"No comment,” Fenton School District 100 Superintendent James Ontengco said.
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Board President Cary Lewis also resisted calls for resignation, answering "absolutely not" to questions regarding his future.
“To the superintendent, your complicity with a terminated administrator is absolutely repulsive. You are a joke of a man," Fenton High School graduate, Xochitl Quinones said.
The comments of those speaking hit home for some Board members.
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“I’m a parent here," board member Sylvia Hayde said. "I’m a parent here too. I have a child here and I want to get to the bottom of everything just like everybody else does.”
“I share their anger," President Lewis said. "I share their frustration. I share all of that.”
Many of the parents and students who attended Wednesday's meeting plan to continue to attend school board meetings until the superintendent and board members resign or are fired.
