GIBSON CITY — The allegations of misconduct that led to last month’s firing of Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley teacher and coach Robbie Dinkins — and an ongoing police investigation — include claims that he maintained inappropriate relationships with students, spending time with them alone, both at school and at his home, and communicating with them via text outside of the school day, sometimes about his own or their own personal matters.
Via a Freedom of Information Act request, the Ford County Chronicle on Thursday obtained a copy of a letter that the school board sent via certified mail to Dinkins following the April 23 termination of his employment. The letter included a “bill of particulars” — all five pages of which were entirely redacted — and a “statement of charges” against Dinkins while specifically noting the ongoing investigation by Gibson City police and the possibility of the charges being amended “depending upon its outcome.”
Over seven years as the head soccer coach of the Fisher/GCMS Bunnies, Robbie Dinkins posted a 116-24-9 record, including an IHSA Class 1A round-of-16 postseason appearance last fall.
On Friday, Gibson City Police Chief Adam Rosendahl said the investigation was “still pending.” Once finished, a special prosecutor from the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office will consider whether to file criminal charges.
Dinkins, who was given 17 days from his receipt of the school board’s April 23 letter to request a hearing to appeal the termination of his employment, told the Ford County Chronicle on Friday that he plans to do so. GCMS Superintendent Jeremy Darnell said the deadline is Sunday, May 11, and no request had been received yet as of Friday.
Dinkins — who taught eighth-grade math and coached eighth-grade boys’ basketball and boys’ track at GCMS Middle School and was head coach of the Fisher/GCMS High School cooperative soccer team — declined further comment on the situation when reached Friday via phone.
Under the Illinois School Code, Dinkins can request a hearing before either a mutually agreed upon hearing officer, with the cost split between the board and Dinkins, or a board-selected hearing officer, paid for in full by the board, through the Illinois State Board of Education. The request must be submitted in writing to Darnell by the deadline for it to be forwarded to the ISBE, the school board’s April 23 letter to Dinkins noted.
Dinkins’ dismissal came on the heels of an initial investigation into his conduct by a third-party investigator, attorney Stephanie Jones of the Kriha Boucek law firm. That investigation established the evidence contained in a “bill of particulars” on which the board’s “statement of charges” against Dinkins is based. While the entire “bill of particulars” was redacted when obtained by the Chronicle — in order “to remove personally identifiable information regarding students,” Darnell explained — the “statement of charges” against Dinkins was not.
The statement of charges alleges, among other things, that Dinkins violated Board Policy 5:120, regarding professional and appropriate employee conduct, by repeatedly crossing “the boundaries between employee-student to such an extent that the parents of the students listed in the bill of particulars perceived (his) actions as the grooming of these children for sexual abuse.”
“You took these actions despite (all staff) receiving specific training on grooming and what could be perceived as grooming on Aug. 21, 2024, and Aug. 16, 2023,” the board said in its statement of charges.
The board said Dinkins sent text messages to students from his personal phone about “non-school business,” including texts sent “late at night” that “significantly crossed the boundaries of a student/teacher or athlete/coach relationship,” causing students “distress” over Dinkins’ “safety and state of mind.” Such texts were “overly personal,” disclosing information that was “not appropriate for minor children,” such as his loved ones’ deaths, the board said.
“You acknowledged to the students at the time and to the investigator that some of your text messages were sent while you were intoxicated,” said the board’s letter to Dinkins. “You confided in students regarding personal matters related to adult issues and solicited support from them. You asked students to keep information between the two of you.”
The late-night text messages “were often unrelated to school or sports,” the board said.
“During these text conversations, you spoke to students about their personal lives and your personal life,” the board said. “You claim that these conversations were from a position of support, but the conversations cross the boundary of what is appropriate for a student/teacher or coach/athlete relationship.”
Dinkins also invited students to “do things with (him) on a one-on-one basis,” the board said, noting that he invited students to his home to use his athletic training equipment, organize soccer equipment, have meals or “just hang out” and “regularly opened the (school) gym for students,” sometimes spending time with them alone at either location. Dinkins also allegedly was alone with students in his personal vehicle.
Dinkins also “repeatedly and overtly showed affection” toward students — “beyond the bounds of the student/teacher or athlete/coach relationship” — by hugging them in public and telling them he loves them either in private or public, the board said.
“You used your students as confidants, leaning on minor children for support for your own mental health issues,” the board said.
Dinkins also is alleged to have violated Board Policy 5:125, regarding the use of personal technology and/or social media by staff, by “failing to adhere to high standards for professional and appropriate conduct while using (his) personal device” and by “failing to use school district-provided platforms for communication with students and families.”
“On July 1, 2024, and on several dates following July 1, 2024, you (and all other staff) were specifically directed to use specific district-managed platforms for communicating with students and families, which include Thrillshare and Remind,” the board wrote to Dinkins. “Notwithstanding this directive, you continued to communicate with your students/athletes via text message from your personal phone. … You sent multiple text messages to students containing private information about yourself. You used your personal device to arrange time with students outside of school, including time where you would be alone with students. You used your personal device to seek support from students for your personal issues.”
Also alleged were violations of Board Policy 5:130, regarding the responsibilities of staff to safeguard confidential information about students.
“You disclosed personal information regarding other students to the students you were texting,” the board’s letter to Dinkins said. “In particular, you discussed the reasons why one student was no longer on the soccer team with another student.”
Dinkins also allegedly violated the Illinois Code of Educator Ethics by “failing to demonstrate a high level of professional judgment,” by “failing to develop and maintain professional relationships with parents, families and communities” and by “failing to comply with state and federal laws and regulations” via “multiple breaches of staff-student boundaries,” the board said.
“You developed trusting relationships with students and their families and then violated that trust when you allowed those relationships to cross the professional boundaries expected by a teacher and a coach,” the board said.
Over seven years as the head soccer coach of the Fisher/GCMS Bunnies, Dinkins posted a 116-24-9 record, including an IHSA Class 1A round-of-16 postseason appearance last fall. Before coaching the eighth-grade boys’ basketball team in the 2024-25 season, Dinkins served as an assistant coach for the high school’s boys’ basketball team, as well.
Prior to working at GCMS, was an eighth-grade student teacher at Wilmington Middle School in fall 2011 and worked in a sixth-grade teaching practicum at Franklin Middle School in fall 2010 and an eighth-grade practicum at Cumberland Middle School in Toledo in spring 2011. He previously was employed as a forklift operator at FedEx in Effingham in summer 2010, as a driver/service technician for Wilmington Backyard Pools in Wilmington in the summers of 2008 and 2009, as a laborer for J.P. Larson in Chicago in 2006 and as a forklift operator at Menard’s in Joliet in 2005 and 2006.