A Petersburg man who resigned from a Springfield Municipal Opera board after parents complained he didn’t do enough to shield children in community theater programs from another man’s sexually inappropriate comments was fired from his job April 19 for allegedly making “sexually suggestive” comments to Rochester High School students.
Bill Bauser Jr., who had worked for Rochester Community Unit School District 3A since being first hired in July 2017 to direct a play, was terminated from his $43,860-a-year job as the district’s auditorium and fine arts director in a unanimous vote of the Rochester School Board. 
Bauser, 56, had been on paid administrative leave since March 29. He didn’t respond to a request for comment. He hasn’t been charged with any crimes.
The Rochester board’s resolution to fire contained 16 administrative charges against Bauser, who, as an "educational support" employee, wasn't classified as a teacher and wasn't represented by a union. The charges resulted from complaints that came to the attention of district officials over the past month, Superintendent Dan Cox said.
Bauser didn’t appear when given a chance to speak in front of the school board in closed session about the undated allegations of violations of the district’s code of professional conduct and board policy on bullying, intimidation and harassment, Cox said.
According to the allegations:
*Bauser told two female students, “You both have boyfriends, you should know what six inches is.”
*Bauser told a female student regarding her clothing and in a setting in which other students could hear: “Put that away. Nobody wants to see that.”
*Bauser told a female student that she was “hanging out” and “there was no support there” in reference to her breasts and undergarments.
*While a female student was wearing a costume with a zipper, (Bauser) said, ‘Look boys. A zipper in the front,’ while unzipping the zipper.”
*After a student told Bauser he was not comfortable performing a kissing scene, Bauser “continued to push for the student to perform the kissing scene and told the student, ‘You have to do things that make you feel uncomfortable.’”
*Bauser required another student who was uncomfortable participating in a kissing scene to practice the scene for 45 minutes.
*Bauser entered a changing room while female students were changing in between scenes and at least one student was in her underwear.
*Bauser pinched a student to make him scream “in a certain manner for his performance in a play.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally and failed to exercise appropriate boundaries with minor students” when he “repeatedly” attached microphones to female students. The microphones are worn under their clothing.
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally and failed to exercise appropriate judgment” when he “left four ‘prop guns,’ which were realistic in appearance as firearms, and the caps for the guns, unsecured” in his office. The conduct created “a substantial risk of disruption within the school.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally” when he “maintained inadequate records or no records for $7,500 in United States currency located in (his) office. … It cannot be determined to what group or event the money is attributable, when it was collected, or if it would be applicable to an individual student account.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally” when he maintained his office “in such a manner that check donations made to booster clubs in 2021 were not deposited, thereby causing a financial loss to the booster club.”
Cox wouldn’t elaborate on the allegations, including whether any booster club money had been stolen.
Illinois Times first reported April 6 on the controversies swirling around Bauser and Petersburg resident Adam Power.
Power was the target of a Springfield Police Department investigation and the focus of parents’ complaints to the Springfield Theatre Centre board in 2018 when Bauser was president of the board. Community theater supporters Johnny Molson and Kari Bedford said their daughter was among those who received inappropriate text messages from Power when she was a minor and acting in local productions.
The pair said they and other parents of children who received communications from Power sent their written complaints to a Springfield Theatre Centre email in 2018, but expressed frustration that Bauser and other members of the STC executive board did not inform the full board of the allegations against Power.
Bauser later asked Power to be vocal director of an STC musical, Annie Get Your Gun, in late 2019, without consulting other board members. At that time, Bauser was the STC board's executive director and treasurer. Both positions were volunteer.
Power, 29, a musician, never was charged in the Springfield investigation into his alleged inappropriate online comments and text messages to minors he met as a volunteer and paid staff member in Springfield Theatre Centre programs and productions.
Online comments on public websites about Power and Bauser by children and parents involved with area community theater groups intensified after Bauser was appointed to the volunteer board of managers of The Muni in December 2022. Bauser’s resignation from the Muni board was announced April 5 in a Facebook post.
Power has pleaded not guilty in Menard County Circuit Court to eight felony child pornography charges. He was arrested and taken into custody March 22. His bond was set at $300,000 by Circuit Judge Mike Atterberry.
Power was released April 21 pending trial after his mother, Sherrie Leezer of Petersburg, posted the required $30,000 cash, or 10% of the bond, to gain Power’s release. The next hearing in Power’s case is scheduled for June 20.
Power was ordered to reside at his grandmother’s home in Petersburg while free on bond. Other conditions of his bond require him to submit to electronic monitoring, have no contact with minors, stay away from schools and other places where children may be present, and not use a cellphone or any other device that would allow him to communicate by text, email or other online methods.
Power worked as a substitute teacher for 26 days in the Rochester district in the 2019-2020 academic year at the elementary, intermediate, junior high and high schools, according to information provided to Illinois Times in response to an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request.
Power served as a substitute teacher for seven days in the 2020-2021 academic year, Cox said.
The district hasn’t received any complaints about Power’s conduct as a sub, Cox said.
Illinois Times previously reported that Power, who graduated from Petersburg PORTA High School in 2012, occasionally worked as a substitute teacher at the school from November 2019 to April 2021.
Bauser worked as a PORTA High band assistant in 2011 and 2012, when Power reportedly was a member of the band.
PORTA Superintendent Matt Brue said the district received no complaints about Power’s or Bauser’s conduct as employees.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at [email protected], 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
Bill Bauser Jr., who had worked for Rochester Community Unit School District 3A since being first hired in July 2017 to direct a play, was terminated from his $43,860-a-year job as the district’s auditorium and fine arts director in a unanimous vote of the Rochester School Board.
PHOTO BY DEAN OLSEN
Springfield resident Sarah Williamson, 41, mother of a second-grader in the Rochester school district, asked the School Board at its April 19 meeting for information about its investigation into employee Bill Bauser’s conduct. The board fired Bauser later in the meeting. Bauser wasn’t present.
Bauser, 56, had been on paid administrative leave since March 29. He didn’t respond to a request for comment. He hasn’t been charged with any crimes.
The Rochester board’s resolution to fire contained 16 administrative charges against Bauser, who, as an "educational support" employee, wasn't classified as a teacher and wasn't represented by a union. The charges resulted from complaints that came to the attention of district officials over the past month, Superintendent Dan Cox said.
Bauser didn’t appear when given a chance to speak in front of the school board in closed session about the undated allegations of violations of the district’s code of professional conduct and board policy on bullying, intimidation and harassment, Cox said.
According to the allegations:
*Bauser told two female students, “You both have boyfriends, you should know what six inches is.”
*Bauser told a female student regarding her clothing and in a setting in which other students could hear: “Put that away. Nobody wants to see that.”
*Bauser told a female student that she was “hanging out” and “there was no support there” in reference to her breasts and undergarments.
*While a female student was wearing a costume with a zipper, (Bauser) said, ‘Look boys. A zipper in the front,’ while unzipping the zipper.”
*After a student told Bauser he was not comfortable performing a kissing scene, Bauser “continued to push for the student to perform the kissing scene and told the student, ‘You have to do things that make you feel uncomfortable.’”
*Bauser required another student who was uncomfortable participating in a kissing scene to practice the scene for 45 minutes.
*Bauser entered a changing room while female students were changing in between scenes and at least one student was in her underwear.
*Bauser pinched a student to make him scream “in a certain manner for his performance in a play.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally and failed to exercise appropriate boundaries with minor students” when he “repeatedly” attached microphones to female students. The microphones are worn under their clothing.
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally and failed to exercise appropriate judgment” when he “left four ‘prop guns,’ which were realistic in appearance as firearms, and the caps for the guns, unsecured” in his office. The conduct created “a substantial risk of disruption within the school.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally” when he “maintained inadequate records or no records for $7,500 in United States currency located in (his) office. … It cannot be determined to what group or event the money is attributable, when it was collected, or if it would be applicable to an individual student account.”
*Bauser “acted unprofessionally” when he maintained his office “in such a manner that check donations made to booster clubs in 2021 were not deposited, thereby causing a financial loss to the booster club.”
Cox wouldn’t elaborate on the allegations, including whether any booster club money had been stolen.
Illinois Times first reported April 6 on the controversies swirling around Bauser and Petersburg resident Adam Power.
Power was the target of a Springfield Police Department investigation and the focus of parents’ complaints to the Springfield Theatre Centre board in 2018 when Bauser was president of the board. Community theater supporters Johnny Molson and Kari Bedford said their daughter was among those who received inappropriate text messages from Power when she was a minor and acting in local productions.
The pair said they and other parents of children who received communications from Power sent their written complaints to a Springfield Theatre Centre email in 2018, but expressed frustration that Bauser and other members of the STC executive board did not inform the full board of the allegations against Power.
Bauser later asked Power to be vocal director of an STC musical, Annie Get Your Gun, in late 2019, without consulting other board members. At that time, Bauser was the STC board's executive director and treasurer. Both positions were volunteer.
Complaints from parents then led the full board to remove Power from Annie Get Your Gun, and Hoogland Executive Director Gus Gordon said he immediately notified the Hoogland board, which banned Power from the building. STC board members then asked for, and received, Bauser's resignation from the board in December 2019.
Power, 29, a musician, never was charged in the Springfield investigation into his alleged inappropriate online comments and text messages to minors he met as a volunteer and paid staff member in Springfield Theatre Centre programs and productions.
Online comments on public websites about Power and Bauser by children and parents involved with area community theater groups intensified after Bauser was appointed to the volunteer board of managers of The Muni in December 2022. Bauser’s resignation from the Muni board was announced April 5 in a Facebook post.
Power has pleaded not guilty in Menard County Circuit Court to eight felony child pornography charges. He was arrested and taken into custody March 22. His bond was set at $300,000 by Circuit Judge Mike Atterberry.
Power was released April 21 pending trial after his mother, Sherrie Leezer of Petersburg, posted the required $30,000 cash, or 10% of the bond, to gain Power’s release. The next hearing in Power’s case is scheduled for June 20.
Power was ordered to reside at his grandmother’s home in Petersburg while free on bond. Other conditions of his bond require him to submit to electronic monitoring, have no contact with minors, stay away from schools and other places where children may be present, and not use a cellphone or any other device that would allow him to communicate by text, email or other online methods.
Power worked as a substitute teacher for 26 days in the Rochester district in the 2019-2020 academic year at the elementary, intermediate, junior high and high schools, according to information provided to Illinois Times in response to an Illinois Freedom of Information Act request.
Power served as a substitute teacher for seven days in the 2020-2021 academic year, Cox said.
The district hasn’t received any complaints about Power’s conduct as a sub, Cox said.
Illinois Times previously reported that Power, who graduated from Petersburg PORTA High School in 2012, occasionally worked as a substitute teacher at the school from November 2019 to April 2021.
Bauser worked as a PORTA High band assistant in 2011 and 2012, when Power reportedly was a member of the band.
PORTA Superintendent Matt Brue said the district received no complaints about Power’s or Bauser’s conduct as employees.
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at [email protected], 217-679-7810 or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
