A teacher with "a troubled past."
Apr 14, 2007 - Akela Dillon, 26, is described as a teacher "with a troubled past" by the Daily Herald. She was suspended for allegedly slapping a student. The incident was caught on by a video surveillance camera.
The newspaper, however, discovered that Dillon spent time in Carbondale where she was arrested in 1999 and charged with aggravated battery but was not convicted. An item that ran in Southern Illinois University’s school newspaper indicated Dillon allegedly struck a pedestrian with an umbrella and then tried to run over the victim with a vehicle.
DuPage County circuit court clerk records indicate she was arrested in 1997 by Lombard police for retail theft and pleaded guilty. Then, in 2001, she was arrested by District 2 Illinois State Police and charged with possession of cannabis and resisting a police officer. She pleaded guilty to resisting arrest but the cannabis charge was dropped.
Dillon was seriously injured just months into her teaching career at Neuqua Valley when her live-in boyfriend stabbed her in their Aurora apartment. She was stabbed nine times requiring lifesaving surgery. He's serving 12 years for the attack.
District 204 officials said Dillon announced on March 20 that she would resign at the end of the school year. That was just weeks prior to the April 3 incident that occurred in a hallway near a set of lockers. Prior to working at Neuqua Valley High School, she previously taught at Waukegan High School.
There were vague "racial overtones" according to the Chicago Sun-Times as the teacher reportedly made derogatory remarks about the boy dating a white female and "smacked" him in the face, said the mother, Tiffany Stephens. Both Dillon and the boy are black.
Apr 14, 2007 - Akela Dillon, 26, is described as a teacher "with a troubled past" by the Daily Herald. She was suspended for allegedly slapping a student. The incident was caught on by a video surveillance camera.The newspaper, however, discovered that Dillon spent time in Carbondale where she was arrested in 1999 and charged with aggravated battery but was not convicted. An item that ran in Southern Illinois University’s school newspaper indicated Dillon allegedly struck a pedestrian with an umbrella and then tried to run over the victim with a vehicle.
DuPage County circuit court clerk records indicate she was arrested in 1997 by Lombard police for retail theft and pleaded guilty. Then, in 2001, she was arrested by District 2 Illinois State Police and charged with possession of cannabis and resisting a police officer. She pleaded guilty to resisting arrest but the cannabis charge was dropped.
Dillon was seriously injured just months into her teaching career at Neuqua Valley when her live-in boyfriend stabbed her in their Aurora apartment. She was stabbed nine times requiring lifesaving surgery. He's serving 12 years for the attack.
District 204 officials said Dillon announced on March 20 that she would resign at the end of the school year. That was just weeks prior to the April 3 incident that occurred in a hallway near a set of lockers. Prior to working at Neuqua Valley High School, she previously taught at Waukegan High School.
There were vague "racial overtones" according to the Chicago Sun-Times as the teacher reportedly made derogatory remarks about the boy dating a white female and "smacked" him in the face, said the mother, Tiffany Stephens. Both Dillon and the boy are black.
Update Apr 27 - Dillon was sentenced to 12 months court supervision for slapping a student's face in a school hallway earlier this month.
Dillon was also ordered to seek anger management counseling, pay $250 in fines and court fees, and not have contact with the student in question.
