DNH Removed!

Former Football Star Coach Removed from DNH

By Jim Vail

Former Dunbar Football Star Coach Freddie Lesser who was unfairly placed on a Do Not Hire List 20 years ago was successfully removed from the black list.

“Please be advised that the Do Not Hire designation (DNH) has been lifted from your file,” stated the Dec. 9 letter from the Chicago Public Schools Office of Administrative Hearings. “As a result, I am pleased to inform you that you are eligible to reapply for employment with the Chicago Public Schools.”

The letter was written and signed by Jennifer Rogers, Executive Director of Administrative Hearings.

Lesser contacted Second City Teachers just a month ago to complain that it was taking a long time for him to get his DNH removed. We then ran his incredible story and posted it on social media on Nov. 30.

One week later CPS announced their decision to remove him.

The power of the media!

“It feels good,” Lesser told Second City Teachers. “Thank you!”

His story was one of many outrageous stories we have featured at Second City Teachers about wonderful teachers unfairly placed on the DNH List.

You could call it the equivalent of someone serving a prison sentence for a crime they never committed.

In Lesser’s case, it was a clear case of mistaken identity that was easily explained. Except, it did not turn out that way.

A provocateur accused him of being assaulted by Lesser at their football practice. Even though his co-coach admitted to everyone that he was the one who threw the punch to defend Lesser, and even though the courts agreed and threw out his case, the Chicago Public Schools still unfairly labeled him guilty and put him on a Do Not Hire List.

Lesser was not only a star football coach at the top-rated Dunbar High School at the turn of the millennium, he was also a star graphics design teacher who had a waiting list of a thousand students to take his award-winning class.

Lesser said he is not sure he wants to work again in CPS, but he did want to clear his name.