IL Court OKs Suit on School's Inaction on Abuse
By AP
SPRINGFIELD, IL - The Illinois Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit that accuses McLean County school officials of not doing enough to keep an abusive teacher from being hired in another community.
The teacher went on to abuse at least eight girls in his new job.
Thursday's 5-2 ruling did not hold that school officials have a broad duty to warn other schools about potentially dangerous teachers.
Instead, it found that McLean County officials opened themselves up to a lawsuit by filling out an employment verification form without noting the teacher had been suspended. The court said that information might have been a "red flag" to the Urbana school district that wound up hiring teacher Jon White.
The lawsuit by the families of sexually abused students now goes to trial.