It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Jun 13, 2018 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. McSweeney is the chief sponsor, but his co-sponsors are Reps. Mary Flowers, Grant Wehrli and Jonathan Carroll. That’s not a combination you will see very often, if ever…
State Representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) today filed legislation to protect students from predatory educators and ensure accusations against educators are managed properly with the best interests of students in mind. House Bill 5914 makes numerous changes in state law to address the flaws and gaps in legislation and policy that led to Chicago Public School’s gross mishandling of sexual abuse and assault cases that occurred at schools within the district.
“The mistakes made by the schools in Chicago are reprehensible; nothing like this should ever be allowed to happen again,” Rep. McSweeney said. “These cases were handled atrociously by CPS and they were allowed to get away with it because of shortcomings in state law. The Chicago Tribune’s investigation unveiled that while this is a significant issue in Chicago, this is also a statewide problem.”
A Chicago Tribune investigation identified 72 school employees as alleged perpetrators in the last decade in schools all across Chicago. They found that CPS conducted shoddy background checks, which led to the hiring of educators with red flags in their records, several of whom went on to commit abuses at CPS schools. Among those that left CPS after being investigated, several were rehired elsewhere.
HB 5914 mandates that the Illinois State Board of Education must be aware of, and monitor, the process with regard to each individual background check conducted by school districts. It also amends the Freedom of Information Act to allow school districts to disclose the disciplinary records of school district personnel relating to sexual abuse. It further allows a school district to divulge internal investigative findings and discipline to another school district. Any arresting agency is required to share its reports pertaining to the arrest of a licensed educator with the superintendent of any school district that employs the educator.
In addition, the Tribune’s investigation found significant failures in the way individual schools and the overall district handled cases of sexual abuse. CPS admitted that they do not have a standard protocol for investigating reports of sexual misconduct. HB 5914 will require school boards to report all credible cases of sexual assault or abuse by a licensed educator to the State Board of Education, to establish a hearing procedure for student victims, and to ensure that a licensed educator under investigation by the State Superintendent of Education is reassigned to non-classroom duty.
Modeled off a Florida law, the bill would also make it a criminal offense for an authority figure to engage in sexual conduct or sexual relations with a student, regardless of age.
“This isn’t just on CPS, these failures exist in state government as well and need to be fixed as soon as possible,” Rep. McSweeney continued. “This comprehensive legislation is a solid start and a good base that we can amend as further policy recommendations are given or more legislative gaps come to light.”
The bill was drafted by Rep. McSweeney and State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park). State Representative Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) is the chief co-sponsor in the Illinois House.
* Other bills…
* Industry-supported bill would impose “absurd” regulations on peer-to-peer car rentals: In addition to the content of the bill, [Michelle Fang, general counsel for Turo] took issue with the way the legislation was written and voted upon in Springfield, calling it “really dirty cronyism politics.” … State Rep. Grant Wehrli, R-Naperville, who was chief co-sponsor of the bill in the Illinois House, said there was nothing unusual about the way the legislation came together.
* Democrats fling stinky stuff after patronage, deficits are cut: The state legislature passed Senate Bill 2368 on May 30. It requires the mayor of Democrat-stronghold Granite City to be on the board, tipping the balance of power back to Democrats. It requires the executive director to live in the district. Stephen Adler is an engineer and was a Republican on the Madison County Board before he was appointed executive director of the sanitary district. He lives in Godfrey, outside the district boundaries. Adler’s the one who got rid of the extra 24 employees and immediately stopped the deficits. He’s the one who found money to fix one broken pump and replace the other. He’s the one building reserves to fix the crumbling sewers in Washington Park and create drainage for major commercial development along the Interstate 255 corridor.
* New drone law would let police monitor large public events: Drone usage would be limited to public safety purposes, such as evaluating crowd size or movement, assessing safety vulnerabilities or weaknesses, determining appropriate staffing or identifying possible criminal activity, according to the bill.
- Smitty Irving - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 2:43 pm:
“stinky stuff” … typical half the story anti-government hoo haw from the Belleville News Democrat. IF you read yesterday’s story (no link in editorial), there is a link to the bill on ilga.gov. While the Senate concurred with these House changes on a mostly partisan roll call, the changes BND objects to passed 101-7, among the 101 were most of the local GOP reps, Leader Durkin, and Jeanne Ives. Not a word about that.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 3:19 pm:
As to the sexual abuse bill: there has to be consequences for any mandatory reporter that does not report
- charles in charge - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 3:31 pm:
McSweeney never met a press pop bill he didn’t like.
- Alternative Logic - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 3:47 pm:
Turo is owned by Daimler AG (Mercedes), Liberty Mutual and a host of hedge funds. Spare us the “mom and pop” routine.
Their for-profit business needs to follow the same safety rules as the companies they are emulating: Renting out “personal” cars that have open safety recalls or defects is a no-go no-brainer.
Unsafe cars don’t magically self-destruct they crash into our family, friends, and neighbors.
- Last Bull Moose - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 5:54 pm:
Why a child sex abuse bill that excludes DCFS? Maybe DCFS needs a special unit for Chicago Public Schools.
- MyTwoCents - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 7:14 pm:
There are penalties for mandated reporters failing to report, either a misdemeanor or a felony but I believe the felony requires some kind of conspiracy to conceal. So I highly doubt anybody has ever been charged. As for DCFS, I don’t think anything in the articles were about the agency. The issue was they were not being notified so they couldn’t do anything.
My thought is why should school districts even be allowed under State law to conduct their own investigations? I don’t care if it’s the CPS inspector general. Something like sexual abuse should be left strictly to the professionals at DCFS and/or the police. Particularly since I doubt anybody at the inspector general is trained in interviewing child victims.
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 7:28 pm:
My two cents. I did many hundreds of abuse cases in Du page. Most were DCFS and they had their issues but you are absolutely right need someone independent for perhaps all schools. Maybe through Schools or somewhere else. mandatory reporters can be afraid to report so some kind of hot line. and a hot line that responds immediately. and probably are consequences for not reporting but unless there are high profile consequence everything is a feel good look what we did law.
- NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Wednesday, Jun 13, 18 @ 9:45 pm:
This bill is a mistake. These are sex crimes and should be handled by the police. Teachers and administrators are mandated reporters. if they don’t report then charge them as facilitating the crime. Any district that knows what it is doing has this under control, in terms of policy and procedure. Just another example of the lack of accountability in CPS. Just what will it take to break this district up and return control to elected school board? So far massive debt and student assaults haven’t done it. If parents and voters don’t demand this then again we get the government we deserve.