On Sept. 1, substitute teacher, coach, and retired teacher Michael Troll was arrested, cited, and released for battery in a classroom. As of October 6, 2023, Mclean County prosecutors decided not to file charges against Troll after the case was sent back to ISU police for further review.
“Mr. Troll has been a pillar in the community and has worked his whole career to support young people,” Troll’s attorney Michael Nichols said in a statement. “He is happy with the outcome of this matter.”
After Troll’s initial arrest, the policy for physical contact with a student at U-High was brought to the forefront of administrative priorities.
“It’s a difficult situation overall,” principal Andrea Markert said. “I think it brings into question safety in schools.”
At U-High, there is no written policy in the handbook regarding physical contact between a student and a teacher. However, Faith’s Law is a piece of legislation that outlines how to handle physical misconduct allegations. While the law was initially created in response to sexual misconduct (Troll was not charged with misconduct of this type), it also impacts how schools respond to physical incidents.
“Faith’s law just took into effect a couple years ago, and it’s still the current law we’re using,” Markert said. “The law has stages to it and July 1 began the final stage. Unless the state changes, I don’t see any other changes to be made.”
Specifically, the July 1, 2023 implementation of Faith’s Law, as stated by Illinois School Board of Education (ISBE), requires that educators receive professional development from approved providers on topics that include “training on the physical and mental health needs of students, student safety, educator ethics and other topics that address the well-being of students and improve the academic and social-emotional outcomes of students.” U-High Faculty and staff experienced this training on Monday, Oct. 12, during a Teacher Institute day.
For the foreseeable future, U-High will have no further policy beyond following Faith’s Law. Background check policies will remain the same for substitute teachers, as well.
“Substitute teachers do go through every required background check that every teacher also goes through,” Markert said. “They are fingerprinted even for the Regional Office of Education before they can get their substitute license.”
When it comes to protections for both students and teachers in events like this, Markert noted that students have more services for protection and guidance than teachers. Students are supported through the counseling center, which is now fully staffed with the hiring of new school psychologist, Dr. Trisha Mann.
“We don’t have a body that comes together to protect teachers,” Markert said. “Other schools have an organized body that’ll give teachers a spokesperson or a lawyer, and we don’t have that built into our system.”
Teachers have also found that this incident has impacted their trust in general student and teacher relationships at school. While students have talked sporadically to one another about the event, multiple teachers report feeling taken aback by the incident.
“For U-High to be a supportive place, that trust [between students and teachers] has to go both ways,” Engineering Technology teacher Cory Culbertson said. “Students need to be able to trust teachers, but teachers also need to trust their students too.”
This past school year, U-High put a lot of emphasis on the use of restorative practices and circles when trying to resolve conflict. On Sept. 25, the faculty held a restorative circle in order to share their thoughts about the incident and to hear one another’s perspectives.
“I hope that all students know and realize that we as teachers always want what is best for them,” Biology teacher Maggy Proctor said. “We want to help you grow as learners, help you grow as citizens, and I don’t think there is a single teacher in this building that would want to cause any harm to their students.”
In addition to making use of restorative practices, Markert wants to strongly encourage students to speak up if they feel unsafe within the school environment, especially in a situation where there may be a need to contact the police.
Culbertson said he would also like students to comprehend the importance of ignoring rumors.
“I’ve heard students describing drastically different versions of this incident,” Culbertson said. “People want to know what happened so it’s natural to repeat what we’ve heard, but we need to be careful about latching onto a version of the story that might be far from the truth.”
As the prosecutors have dismissed all charges against Troll, he has been given permission to return to work as a coach and substitute teacher at the Illinois State laboratory schools.
“Mr. Troll and his family appreciate all the support from the community and he is happy to put this behind him,” Nichols said. “He looks forward to continuing to coach, teach, and mentor young people as he has for nearly two decades.”
NOTE: The student involved with this incident could not be contacted to be interviewed for this article due to protections for incidents involving a minor.
