PAXTON, Ill. (WAND) — Following a lawsuit filed in June alleging sexual misconduct by a teacher and former coach at Paxton-Buckley-Loda school district, a consultant hired by the district determined that the teacher did not violate the district's Title IX policies.Â
There have been two other lawsuits filed since June. The original complaint claims that school administrators repeatedly dismissed the students' reports of abuse and failed to notify the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), despite being required to do so.
It was not until January of this year that one of the alleged victims disclosed her experiences with the coach to a therapist, who then reached out to DCFS. This led to an investigation by the Illinois State Police. However, the lawsuit claims that school administrators did not take immediate action to discipline the coach, who remained on the job until he was finally suspended months later.
WAND filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the teacher's personnel file on Aug. 14, and received a 245-page document on Aug. 21 containing the findings of a Title IX investigation and a Determination Regarding Responsibility.Â
The Title IX investigation evaluates the allegations made in the suit filed in June, not any other allegations made by other students over the teacher's decades-long career. The investigation was conducted by Chicago-based law firm Franczek and submitted to the district June 12. It found that there is insufficient evidence to prove that the teacher committed the acts outlined in the lawsuit. The investigators, Kaitlin Atlas and Jennifer Smith, recommended that there be no finding that the teacher violated the Board's policy on Title IX.
The district also hired consulting firm InCompliance to investigate the teacher. The report, completed by Susan Oppenheimer, was submitted to the district Aug. 6. It found that there is insufficient evidence of the teacher sexually harassing or sexually assaulting either student in the suit.
The teacher maintained through all investigations that he did not make any form of sexual contact with the students. WAND reached out to the teacher for comment, and have not heard back.
Attorney Bhavani Raveendran, representing the students in the civil lawsuits, responded to WAND's request for comment on the findings of the Title IX investigations, saying:
"The families affected by this incident have repeatedly requested that PBL conduct a widespread investigation into the reports of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, instead of failing to advocate for minor students that have been brave enough to step forward. The Title IX process was not expanded into an in-depth investigation regarding the numerous students that may have been victimized over the years. This community deserves real transparency and answers. We still have no information on why victim reports were not addressed for over a decade."
