GALESBURG — Abingdon-Avon School District 276’s technology director turned himself in Wednesday at the Knox County Jail.
Mark Rogers, a longtime employee of Abingdon School District before heading up the consolidated district’s technology department, was arrested on three felony charges of eavesdropping.
Rogers appeared at the jail with his attorney, Elisa Nelson, around 2 p.m. They emerged about 30 minutes later.
Nelson confirmed Rogers’ arrest, clarified the charges and sought to quell some rumors circulating since Wednesday morning — after word leaked of a warrant for her client’s arrest.
“The charges are all eavesdropping,” she said. “There was not one single, solitary piece of inappropriate material linked to Mark Rogers. There wasn’t even a discussion about any other activity except alleged eavesdropping.”
Rogers declined to comment, but just shook his head when asked about any allegations of grade-changing.
In District 276’s news release of May 7, the district said it discovered a “breach” in its cloud-based Skyward information management system. The breach included, according to the release, evidence of grade-point average changes and tampering with email.
The same release said a district employee had been placed on paid administrative leave. Rogers’ friends and family confirmed the technology director was the employee.
The news release was removed from the District 276 website just days after its posting.
In the wake of the news release in early May, the district’s two unions voiced support for Rogers and issued a joint statement claiming Rogers attempted to warn the administration about unauthorized access in the Skyward system.
Missy Roberts, the head of the Abingdon-Avon Teachers Association, reiterated that support Wednesday. Suzanne Batson, the head of the Abingdon-Avon Education Association, echoed Roberts.
“This is a stressful situation and we just want this resolved,” Batson said. “This investigation has gone on and on.
“It’s time for this to end and for people to know what is going on.”
The investigation, according to the district, was conducted by Decatur-based Garrett Discovery.
Just last week, District 276 Superintendent Chad Willis said the investigation “is wrapping up” and he expected a full report “soon.”
Willis did not return calls seeking comment on Rogers’ arrest.
