CHICAGO (TND) — The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of the Inspector General’s Sexual Allegations Unit (SAU) received 470 complaints of public school staff engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior in FY2022, representing a 125% increase from the previous fiscal year and a return to pre-pandemic numbers. The number of sexual allegations against staff dipped to 209 in FY2021, but spiked back up once students returned to in-person learning. There were 458 complaints in FY2019 and 434 complaints in FY2020.

Since FY2019, nearly 150 complaints have accused school staff of engaging in "grooming," defined by Cambridge Dictionary as "the criminal activity of becoming friends with a child in order to try to persuade the child to have a sexual relationship."