"I’m Sick to My Stomach" — Chicago Schools CEO Janice Jackson on Sexual Violence against Students

By David Jackson, Gary Marx, Juan Perez Jr. and Jennifer Smith Richards
Chicago Tribune
June 1, 2018

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-school-sexual-misconduct-investigation-20180523-story.html

Dr. Janice K. Jackson, chief executive officer for Chicago Public Schools, speaks at Truman College on May 30, 2018. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

In a burst of tweets Friday morning, Chicago schools CEO Janice Jackson said she was “sick to my stomach” to learn of the Chicago Tribune’s investigative findings on sexual violence against CPS students.

Jackson praised students and recent graduates for speaking out in the articles about their experiences of being abused by school employees.

“I want to acknowledge the victims and thank them for their bravery,” she said in one of the tweets, which began about 7 a.m., shortly after the Tribune series “Betrayed” was launched on the paper’s website.

“To all Chicago parents: I will not stop. I will not rest. I will not be satisfied until I’m confident that the district is doing everything in our power to protect our children,” Jackson wrote.

In a separate action Friday, two state lawmakers announced that they would begin crafting legislation to address state child-protection shortfalls identified by the Tribune.

State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, and Sen. Thomas Cullerton, D-Villa Park, said they would lead a bipartisan effort to criminalize sexual contact between a school employee and a student, regardless of age. Unlike other states, it is not a crime in Illinois for a teacher to have sex with a student who is 18 or older.

The legislators also said they would push for stricter timetables and greater transparency in teacher discipline cases handled by the State Board of Education.

The Tribune reported that the state board often took years to suspend or revoke the licenses of educators found to have committed sexual misconduct. In most cases, details about the educator’s misconduct are not made public by the board.

“This is common sense to protect students, and it just disgusted me reading the stories,” McSweeney said. “I would expect this type of legislation to have broad, bipartisan support.”

He said legislation likely will be drafted within two weeks and could be introduced as early as the November veto session. McSweeney said other measures may be considered as well, given the extent of the problem.

The Tribune’s investigation, scheduled to run in print beginning Sunday, found more than 500 Chicago police reports of sexual assault or abuse of students inside city schools during the last decade. An examination of more than 100 of those cases revealed instances where school officials failed repeatedly to protect students.

When students summoned the courage to disclose abuse, teachers and principals failed to alert child welfare investigators or police despite the state’s mandated reporter law, the Tribune found.

Even in cases where school employees acted swiftly, they subjected young victims to repeated interrogations, inflicting more psychological pain and defying basic principles intended to preserve the integrity of an investigation.

Ineffective background checks exposed students to educators with criminal convictions and arrests for sex crimes against children. And CPS failed to disclose to other districts that former employees had resigned after investigators found credible evidence of abuse and harassment.

In an email to CPS staff and on her Twitter feed and the district’s website, Jackson also shared a four-page “Plan of Action” that outlined steps the district is taking to ensure “the safety and well-being of our students.” She previously had shared those responses with the Tribune.

Jackson said in her tweets that the district also has hired a prominent law firm and former state inspector general to conduct a systemic review of the school district's response to sexual misconduct “to ensure that this never happens again.”

Schiff Hardin LLP and firm partner Maggie Hickey will be paid up to $500,000 for the firm’s work, which will include what CPS described as a review of “all practices, policies, and procedures for addressing instances of alleged sexual misconduct, harassment or abuse.”

Hickey once served as a top state inspector general under Gov. Bruce Rauner and is a former assistant U.S. attorney. She now helps lead Schiff Hardin’s white-collar defense and government investigation practices.

dyjackson@chicagotribune.com, gmarx@chicagotribune.com, jjperez@chicagotribune.com, jrichards@chicagotribune.com