According to court records, the child was 13 at the time of the incident on Feb. 26.
Operation Rebirth Director David Babcock said in a statement that Valdez was put on administrative leave March 3 when the board learned of the incident and reviewed “the related evidence.” Valdez was barred from campus and the school notified authorities.
“Following a thorough internal review and consultation with legal counsel, Mr. Valdez’s employment was formally terminated effective March 31, 2025,” Babcock wrote.
Valdez’s wife, Shelly Valdez, resigned as a teacher at the school.
“A new director has been appointed, and the organization is now focused on rebuilding staff capacity and preparing to reopen in the fall,” Babcock wrote. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to student and staff safety and to the integrity of all ongoing legal and organizational processes. We appreciate the community’s continued understanding and support.”
According to court records, Valdez does not have an arrest warrant.
Champaign County Sheriff Chad Burroughs referred the News-Sun to a captain, who has not returned a request for more details.
Operation Rebirth’s website says it is a year-round school with regular breaks, and that “students spend one third of the year at their homes learning to transition back into family life and mainstream education.”
Sam Ronicker, who was the school’s executive director for over a decade, died suddenly in March 2024, just months after being elected mayor of St. Paris. Shelly Valdez, the resigning teacher and wife of the man now charged, is Ronicker’s daughter.
The school — on a 17-acre farm two miles northwest of St. Paris — has been in operation for 40 years. The academy’s website says it is seeking “dormitory parents,” possibly a missionary couple, to work with teenage boys, with salary, housing and food provided.
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