Community activist and past political candidate Anthony Clark is done teaching at Oak Park and River Forest High School, according to a resignation agreement obtained by Wednesday Journal.
As part of the agreement, Clark, a tenured special education teacher at OPRF who has been a source of controversy at the school over many years, will receive a $25,000 payment from the district later this month, on top of the $14,438 Clark received in deferred salary in December, according to the agreement.
According to the agreement, the district accepted Clark’s resignation as a condition to not report him to the Illinois Board of Education for “his employment activities on November 19-20, 2024 or seek any ISBE licensure sanctions against Mr. Clark as result of his resignation.”
OPRF spokesperson Karin Sullivan declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding Clark’s resignation. Clark has not yet responded to a request for comment from Wednesday Journal.
The agreement also stipulated that Clark may not seek employment at OPRF again and that he waive his right to bring legal action against the school district.
Last year, Clark came under fire after several of his social media posts caught the attention of a group of OPRF parents. The parents, among them now-school board candidate Nate Mellman, called for Clark to be fired over posts they argued promoted antisemitism following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023. The posts the parents highlighted included one in which Clark falsely claimed that a Jewish student had shared an image of a swastika during a school assembly in 2018.
Clark has since deleted his account on X, formerly known as Twitter, where the posts were made.
The same group of parents also called on the school to fire the advisors of the OPRF Middle Eastern and North African club over social media posts made from the club’s Instagram account.
Clark, an OPRF graduate, first joined his alma mater as a teacher in 2012. In addition to his role as a special education teacher, Clark helped run several student clubs.
Clark’s public profile grew when he challenged longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primary elections for Illinois’ 7th congressional district. Clark finished second in the primary in 2018, carrying just over 26% of the vote, and third in 2020, where he earned 13% of primary votes.
Clark also unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Oak Park village board in 2021.
Clark has also established himself as a community activist, organizing around a variety of causes and founding the Suburban Unity Alliance in 2016. Clark’s organization runs community fridges at several locations in the western suburbs and has helped organize racial justice protests in Oak Park. Clark has also helped organize a variety of multi-cultural events in Oak Park, including the village’s annual Juneteenth celebration.
