Chicago Park District Board President Avis LaVelle at a news conference addressing claims of sexual misconduct by Park District beaches and pools employees and an independent report on the district's handling of sexual misconduct claims conducted by the Arnold & Porter Law Firm on Nov. 2, 2021, at Jesse White Park in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

       In the wake of widespread criticism regarding the Chicago Park District’s handling of the lifeguard sexual abuse investigation, board President Avis LaVelle announced her resignation at Wednesday’s board meeting.

       “I am deeply sorry for the culture of abuse and harassment that was allowed to fester in the beaches and pools division of the Chicago Park District,” LaVelle said. “It is apparent that this went on for many years, even decades, before I joined the Chicago Park District board. I take responsibility because it came to light on my watch.”

       LaVelle’s last day will be Wednesday. Her resignation comes a month after Park District superintendent and CEO Michael Kelly resigned on the same day that Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined several aldermen in calling for his ouster. Kelly was replaced by interim Superintendent Rosa Escare？o.

       Kelly held the top job at the Park District during the lifeguard sexual abuse scandal first reported by WBEZ in April. His resignation came more than a year after he first learned of allegations of sexual abuse and harassment by Chicago lifeguards. According to WBEZ, Kelly knew about the first allegation by a lifeguard in February 2020 but waited until mid-March to forward the complaint on to the agency’s inspector general.

       Last week, Park District commissioners released the results of an independent investigation that detailed the agency’s mishandling of sexual abuse claims. Escare？o then announced she had fired three high-level Park District managers.

       In a statement after the release of the report, LaVelle said the allegations of sexual abuse “were credible and taken seriously from the point they were turned over the inspector general in March of 2020.”

       However, she added that the agency had been “simply dysfunctional in our approach to this investigation, and I apologize for what has been a slow, tortured process.”

       Lightfoot ally Ald. Michele Smith then released a statement calling on LaVelle to resign following the report’s release.

       “To dismiss more than three decades of systemic and sustained abuse and harassment as simply something not being handled in a ‘timely manner,’ suggests a stunning level of tone deafness and a failure to accept responsibility as chair by Ms. LaVelle,” Smith said.

       When asked in mid-October about LaVelle’s future as board president, Lightfoot said she had “made a specific recommendation to the board about that.”

       LaVelle said Wednesday she made the decision to step down on her own. “I am not being forced out,” she said. “Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not ask me to resign. She has been resolute in her support of me publicly and privately and for that I am profoundly grateful.”

       LaVelle added that her fellow commissioners were not responsible for the Park District’s “culture of abuse.” The Office of the Inspector General reports only to the Park District board president, not to the rest of the board, LaVelle said. She said investigations remain confidential until they have concluded. Other commissioners were not aware of the investigation “for many months,” she said.

       “That is not the best protocol, but that is the protocol that I observed,” LaVelle said. She added that she had recommended the board form a committee to oversee inspector general investigations going forward.

       LaVelle maintained that she had “fully supported” a thorough investigation and that she had acted “honestly and responsibly” in her role at the Park District.

       “I am stepping off this stage and onto the next with my head held high, and the knowledge that I did my best to serve,” she said.

       tsoglin@chicagotribune.com

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