ALGONQUIN 鈥� Community Unit School District 300 School Board Candidate Kristina Konstanty filed a fake police report against an LGBTQ+ District 300 teacher. The false claim was filed after the openly gay, District 300 teacher, Lisa Kopetsky, made comments at a school board meeting supporting LGBTQ+ students and the district鈥檚 LGBTQ+ club, known as SWANS club, an acronym for 鈥渟tudents who are not silent.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want anyone else to go through what I鈥檝e had to go through.That鈥檚 the only reason I鈥檓 sharing my story,鈥� Kopetsky said. 鈥淚鈥檓 a product of District 300 schools. I graduated from Jacobs High School. My children go to school here. I teach here. I love our schools and our community. But if I can be singled out and harassed because of my sexual orientation, so can our students. This is absolutely unacceptable. We have to do better.鈥�
鈥淥ur school board is elected to stand by all of our students, lift them up, and make sure they have the best education possible.听 School board members must protect our kids from bigotry, not espouse it.听 We don鈥檛, can鈥檛, and shouldn鈥檛 elect candidates who can鈥檛 agree to uplift and protect all of our students.鈥澨� Local Education Association District 300 (LEAD300) President Mike Williamson said.
The timeline of events is as follows:
- In October, at a District 300 school board meeting, Konstanty uses fear and division to (Konstanty begins at 27:41).
- On Nov. 15, (Kopetsky starts at 42:36) defending LGBTQ+ students, staff and the SWANS club.
- Then on Nov. 28, Konstanty tried to attend an LGBTQ+ meeting and is denied entrance.
- On Nov. 30, Konstanty filed a police report with the Algonquin Police Department (APD) saying Kopetsky drove by her and spit on her as she was standing outside the building. Konstanty alleged the incident happened on school district property on Nov. 28 while the LGBTQ+ meeting was happening inside a district building. In the days following the false report, District 300 administrators pulled security camera footage and found Konstanty鈥檚 claims to be entirely fabricated. The video shows Kopetsky鈥檚 car windows are rolled up. It also shows Konstanty sticking up both of her middle fingers at Kopetsky as she drives away.
- On Dec. 9, APD closes the case after determining Konstanty鈥檚 claims were false.
鈥淜onstanty didn鈥檛 just file a fake police report against me. She鈥檚 gone after me online, harassing me through posts on social media. My phone won鈥檛 stop ringing with spam phone calls. My email inbox is overflowing. She鈥檚 doxing me. I鈥檓 worried about my safety and my family鈥檚 safety鈥� Kopetsky said. 鈥淲e need to do more to protect our educators. I totally understand why people leave the teaching profession. We have to do more, so we can save others from going through this nightmare.鈥�
Shortly after APD closed Konstanty鈥檚 false report, she announced her candidacy for school board. Then, at the Jan. 10 school board meeting, Konstanty was openly campaigning for her school board candidacy, which is against Illinois Election Code. The district noted her behavior was 鈥渃onfrontational, disrespectful and abusive鈥� in a No Trespass Notification letter sent to Konstanty. The letter also noted Konstanty is no longer allowed on District 300 property.
The No Trespass Notification issued to Konstanty states, 鈥淐ommunity Unit School District 300 has determined that your actions have impeded, interfered with and disrupted the performance of staff duties and the pursuit of educational activities by students.鈥�
鈥淪he can鈥檛 even enter district property without receiving prior approval, but she鈥檚 running for school board? It should be abundantly clear to anyone looking over this timeline of events to see that Kristina Konstanty is not someone who is remotely qualified to serve our public schools,鈥� Williamson said.
Here you can find the that was filed with APD, exonerating Kopetsy and the from District 300.
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