Chicago Park District pays more than $2 million to ‘sexually exploited’ lifeguard

The toxic workplace culture that once festered at Oak Street Beach led the Chicago Park District to pay more than $2 million to a female former lifeguard there — bringing the total legal tab for the sexual misconduct scandal at the city’s public beaches and pools to more than $8.7 million.

The misconduct in the latest case included “grooming, exploitation and sexual assault” by park district supervisors that began when the plaintiff was still a “minor,” according to court records.

The recent settlement with the woman, who worked at the popular beach near downtown, marks the seventh legal payout to a former lifeguard since WBEZ first reported on accusations of sexual abuse, assault and harassment in the park district’s aquatics department five years ago.

Asked about the settlement with the unidentified “Jane Doe” plaintiff, a parks spokeswoman said the agency “considers multiple factors before reaching a settlement agreement and believes the payment is fair and in the best interest of the district.”

The spokeswoman also said there were no pending court cases and no other unresolved out-of-court claims related to the scandal.

The payout in the recently settled case was $2.15 million, according to park district board meeting records.

A spokeswoman for the Chicago law firm Romanucci & Blandin, which represented the plaintiff, said the terms of the agreement with the prohibited its lawyers from commenting.

The firm won the biggest of the seven settlements related to the lifeguard-abuse scandal for another client. That litigation ended two years ago with the park district paying $4 million to a woman over accusations of abuse by a lifeguard supervisor at Humboldt Park.

In the Oak Street Beach case, Cook County court records show the woman worked there every summer from 2012 through 2018 and filed the lawsuit in October 2024 against the park district and its former chief executive officer, Michael Kelly.

The lawsuit accused Kelly and other officials of having “allowed and concealed a pervasive institutional culture of sexual misconduct directed against female lifeguards.”

The plaintiff became “a victim of indifference” and of senior lifeguards at the iconic Gold Coast beach, according to court records.

The former lifeguard said the park district’s leadership “failed to investigate reported sexual abuse at Oak Street Beach” and did not fire or otherwise discipline supervisors who committed sexual misconduct against female employees.

The case ended in January, court records show, after the park district’s board approved the settlement agreement with no dissenting votes. Video from the meeting shows parks commissioners did not discuss the matter in public before approving the settlement.

The agreement brings the total for the seven payouts to former lifeguards to $8,727,250, according to park district records.

In addition to the $4 million case — believed to be the biggest payout by the agency for any legal matter since at least 2001 — the par district agreed to settlements with two other former aquatics employees in 2024. Those settlements were for $400,000 and $275,000.

The first three claims related to the scandal ended with a settlement for $575,000 in 2022 and payouts of $977,250 and $350,000 in 2023, records show.

The scandal prompted the resignations of Kelly, park district Inspector General Elaine Little, other high-ranking agency officials and parks board president Avis LaVelle, with then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordering an outside investigation.

The park district's watchdog’s office opened its investigation in 2020, when two young female former lifeguards sent letters to Lightfoot and Kelly. WBEZ reported on what already was a “broad investigation” in April 2021.

After that, former lifeguards came forward, saying sexual misconduct was endemic at the beaches and pools for generations, with officials accused of failing to follow through on their zero-tolerance promises.

Kelly defended his handling of the matter. Former lifeguards said they were disappointed by that response. Chicago City Council members raised concerns, and Lightfoot ultimately forced Kelly to resign.

The outside investigation found that Kelly knew about the explosive accusations far longer than previously known and hadn't immediately investigated the complaints, contrary to his assertions.

The inspector general’s office said it found proof to back up 29 accusations against employees in the aquatics department, concluding that “bullying, harassing and sexual misconduct flourished and went unchallenged.”

Officials promised reforms to avoid a repeat of the scandal, and the park district has begun recruiting lifeguards for the 2026 season. The next swim test for prospective lifeguards is March 28 at Whitney Young High School. The park district is offering $20.50 an hour for lifeguarding this summer, according to a help-wanted ad.