Friday, November 20, 2009 East Central Illinois

Two more civil suits related to Jon White filed

By: Amy F. Reiter

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

URBANA – Two more civil suits were filed Tuesday on behalf of former students of Jon White, the former Urbana teacher convicted of 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, eight of them from incidents in Champaign County and two in McLean County.

The suits were filed by Urbana lawyer Thomas Bruno on behalf of Jane Doe-5 and Jane Doe-6, as well as their parents.

Both suits name the Urbana school district, former Superintendent Gene Amberg, former Human Resources Director Carmelita Thomas, former Principal Janice Bradley as well as teacher Kay Grabow and lunchroom and afterschool supervisor Lamar Walker.

The suit brought by Jane Doe-5 also names former afterschool supervisor Rhiannon Ross.

The suit brought by Jane Doe-6 also names lunchroom supervisor Thelma McMillian.

Bruno said the defendants are different because "one of the children was pulled out of the lunch/recess by Jon White, and the other child was pulled out of the afterschool program by Jon White."

The suits allege that the school district was negligent in hiring and keeping White on staff, that several employees had indications of White's improprieties and did not report them, that district administrators did not properly oversee the curriculum in White's class, among other allegations.

Amberg did not return messages. Grabow and Bradley said they had no comment. A man at Thomas' number said she was not available, and would not take a message. Walker, McMillian and Ross could not be reached.

Rachel Lutner in Chicago and Dennis Weedman of Collinsville, the lawyers representing the school district and its employees, did not return messages left Tuesday.

Champaign lawyer Sheryl Fitzjarrald, who represents Bradley, also did not return messages.

Though the Normal school district and several of its employees aren't named in the suit, Bruno said that does not mean his clients are in negotiations with Normal.

Negotiation with the Urbana school district "has ceased," he said. "There was an attempt made to reach a settlement and it was unsuccessful."

The suits are the fifth and sixth brought on behalf of Urbana girls against White and school districts and employees. Civil suits have also been filed on behalf of two girls who attended Normal schools while White taught there.

The first suit was filed by Champaign lawyer Ellyn Bullock in July, and her clients and the Urbana district and Urbana defendants have reached a tentative settlement agreement.

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