The Calumet City School District 155 board recently censured one of its members, Lamarr Miller, after learning he previously was accused of and disciplined for charges of inappropriate behavior with students.

Miller was elected to the board that governs Wilson Elementary School, Wentworth Junior High School and Wentworth Intermediate School in 2023, according to the censure resolution approved Jan. 9.

He is also president of the South Cook County Mosquito Abatement District and works as coordinator of family, community and business engagement at the family engagement center within Markham Elementary District 144.

The District 155 Board said in a censure resolution that it received an anonymous letter in November that alleged Miller instigated “inappropriate contact/behavior with minor students” in a previous role but resigned from the school after being investigated.

The superintendent offices of District 155 and District 144 declined to comment. The censure resolution states Miller told the board the anonymous letter “was trying to defame his character in any way possible in part due to him seeking another office.”

“Member Miller’s unprofessional conduct violates the board’s principles and ethics by which members are to conduct themselves,” the resolution states.

The board acknowledged it has no authority to remove Miller from his elected office, but the resolution directed him to “cease and desist from engaging in the behavior described herein and any other behavior that adversely impacts the district.”

Miller did not respond to requests for comment. Before voting against the censure resolution, Miller said he valued transparency and would speak privately with anyone who wanted to discuss the matter with him, according to the board minutes.

An incident report obtained from Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 says that a TF North student reported interactions she had with Miller, who was a dean’s assistant in February 2019. In the report, which includes a page of her handwritten account, the student detailed several encounters she had with Miller where he complimented her appearance and touched her.“He told me to watch out for boys and that I’m so fine, and if I was old enough he would date me,” the student wrote about an encounter with Miller at the beginning of the school year.

She also recounted that after the school’s Veterans Day program, Miller grabbed her arm and asked if he’d told her before how fine she looked. She wrote that she responded “yes,” and he asked if she had any sisters that looked like her.

“One day, as I’m walking from the nurse, he put an arm around me and said, ‘I haven’t told you how fine you look in awhile,’ and he was squeezing me so I told him to move and he shouldn’t be telling me that,” the student also reported in the account.

Three days after the student filed her report with the administration, Miller was interviewed by district officials about his conduct, according to the incident report. Notes from that interview indicate Miller admitted to having “conversations with students that some people would consider inappropriate” and making comments to students “regarding their looks or physical appearance.”

When asked about making inappropriate comments, Miller said, “kids usually initiate those conversations,” according to the notes.

“For example, a student will come to me with a relationship issue/concern, but I will respond by telling students to focus on books,” Miller said, according to the interview notes. He also said he had told both males and females that “you look nice today.”

Miller also told interviewers that he “gives students hugs often” because “many students don’t have anybody in their life that cares about them,” the records state.

“Apparently this behavior needs to stop on my end,” Miller said after interviewers inquired about the account of him asking a student about dating her sister, according to the notes.

According to the interviewers’ records, they reported having a “discussion regarding appropriate interactions with students” and told Miller “to have absolutely no contact” with the student who reported the inappropriate behavior.

A letter to Miller signed by TF North High School Principal Dwayne Evans, located within the incident report, said Miller was to be given a five-day unpaid suspension, as well as training/counseling in staff and student relationships. Evans also said in his letter that “continued behavior of this type may be cause for additional discipline.”

A separate incident report states that two students shared with similar concerns about Miller’s behavior. The report was submitted in May 2023, district records show.

“Mr. Miller had made her feel uncomfortable by making comments about how pretty she was and her age (she’s 18) and that she’d be graduating soon,” Timothy Bankston, the dean’s assistant, told administrators, according to the report..

The same day as that letter from Evans, Miller submitted his letter of resignation from District 215. His letter, provided in the incident report, stated “it has been a pleasure to work with students, faculty and administration to secure the building for the betterment of safety.”

ostevens@chicagotribune.com