Granite City, Alton, Illinois School Districts' Problems with Teachers and Unprofessional Conduct with Students
Recently, two school districts in Madison County, Illinois, Granite City and Alton, have come under scrutiny because of improper relationships between teachers and students. Parents have brought suit for damages suffered by their children. Further criminal prosecutions have taken place where teachers have suffered severe penalties.
Both of these school districts are public. Public schools are harder to prosecute in civil court due to the fact that the State of Illinois has what is known as the "Tort Immunity Act," which school attorneys argue gives them immunity for hiring a teacher who has a background of sexual misconduct or even retaining the teacher instead of terminating upon notice of improper conduct. These schools have also argued that the schools are immune from negligence (using ordinary care) when supervising activities on school property, so that, at most, the school can only be held responsible for willful and wanton misconduct in supervision of students and teachers. In other words, they argue they are only responsible for exercising reckless disregard for the safety of the student.
