A former Schaumburg choir director convicted of sexually abusing girls at his church and home sued his daughter's high school this week after officials barred him from the building and her June 5 graduation.

Timothy P. Bowling, 53, now of Chicago, pleaded guilty in 1999 to five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse nearly five years after he fondled five girls, two at a sleepover at his home and three at his church, Calvary Baptist Church in Schaumburg. He was released from prison in January 2001.

In his suit, filed in federal court Thursday, Bowling says Schaumburg High School and Township School District 211 officials banned him from the school last October. Previously, officials had allowed him on school grounds numerous times because his daughter is a senior there, and his son graduated from the school in 2003.

Bowling was escorted from the school by a Schaumburg police officer after a friend of one of his victims and her mother, an employee at the school, saw him at the high school when he was there to tune a piano.

The suit contends the district arbitrarily banned him, harassed him and is infringing on his constitutional right "to participate in his daughter's high school education and graduation."

Bowling's attorney, in a letter to the district sent after he was banned, noted that state law allows sex offenders who have children at a school to be on school grounds.

But District 211 Supt. Roger Thornton said Friday that the district is allowed to ban anyone whose presence at a school is "disruptive."

"Any person that has a disruptive effect on the school environment is of great concern," Thornton said.

Since 2003, Bowling has tuned pianos at the high school four times, according to his lawsuit. He also attended "every high school event" for his daughter and son since a few months after his release from prison.

Bowling's suit also seeks unspecified damages and a gag order on everyone involved.

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lford@tribune.com