Judge throws out suit against McLean schools over White
By: Mary Schenk
Thursday, June 25, 2009
URBANA — A Champaign County judge has thrown out lawsuits against McLean County school officials accused of “passing” convicted sex molester and former school teacher Jon White to the Urbana school system.
Judge Mike Jones ruled Thursday that the two girls who were students of Jon White, the former Thomas Paine school teacher convicted of molesting them and others when they were his students in 2005 and 2006, could not recover damages against McLean County Unit 5 and five of its current and former administrators.
Attorneys for the girls, Jane Doe 3 and Jane Doe 7, and their mothers, said they would likely appeal the ruling.
White was a teacher at Colene Hoose Elementary school in Normal prior to being hired in Urbana in August 2005. The lawsuits allege that the Normal school officials knew that White had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with female students there and wrote a letter of recommendation for him to work in Urbana.
Both girls have already received out-of-court settlements from Urbana District 116 in those suits. Still to be resolved are their claims against White, who is currently serving 60 years in prison.
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