Rob Pacey is pictured during a Paxton City Council meeting. Pacey, a 17-year employee of the Paxton-Buckley-Loda school district and lifelong Paxton resident, serves as a Ward 3 alderman on the Paxton City Council and as a Ford County Republican precinct committeeman, plus as a member of numerous local civic organizations. He has denied accusations of sexual misconduct and has not been charged with any crime. Will Brumleve/Ford County Chronicle
PAXTON — Amid ongoing investigations into alleged sexual misconduct by longtime teacher and coach Robert Pacey, Paxton-Buckley-Loda school board members were urged Wednesday to look further into the situation and hold administrators accountable for not promptly suspending him and notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
In an impassioned plea to the board — her second in as many months — parent Samantha Magers said she was concerned that school district administration waited more than two months to place Pacey on paid administrative leave and begin an internal investigation, despite having been notified in January by the DCFS that he had been accused of sexual misconduct and was under investigation by state police. Magers noted that January’s complaint of abuse was apparently not the first against Pacey, either, but was apparently the first reported to DCFS.
“These reports were, in fact, made to staff and administration,” Magers told the board. “Where did the process halt? Why didn’t these reports get any further than administration? DCFS confirmed with me today that zero reports involving Rob had been filed with DCFS prior to January 2025. They hadn’t even heard of him until 4 1/2 months ago.”
MAGERS
Also addressing the board with concerns was PBL High School student Kyla Franckey, who requested policy changes “so that this does not happen to another kid again.” She suggested requiring “better training” for employees “so that they know what to report.” She also suggested requiring that any employee with more than one complaint of misconduct be placed on paid administrative leave immediately upon administration being notified of an ongoing police investigation.
“My little sister was exposed to him for 75 days after the state police investigation started (on Jan. 22),” Franckey said. “And, as we now know, his personnel file is filled with similar incidents. We need a policy in their personnel file, that teacher should be put on leave immediately.”
Superintendent Travis Duley and the board made no public comments in response to Franckey and Magers’.
Duley confirmed Thursday that the school district’s internal investigation into the claims against Pacey — a STEM and technology teacher at Clara Peterson Elementary School and volunteer junior high cross-country coach — was ongoing.
Magers asked that the district swiftly wrap up its investigation and that the board do its own investigation, too, into how complaints were handled.
“As the board of education, you are not only responsible for conducting an investigation of your own into these allegations raised, but you are also responsible for holding administration in place to where if a report comes in from the police and if there is more than one report of mi s conduct accountable if there was any misconduct,” Magers told the board. “We voted you into these positions because we expect that you will keep administration in check, and we are imploring you to please look into this further. And we would appreciate if you would let us know of your findings and that you have put an investigation together, because, as of right now, it really feels like nothing’s going on.”
Last month, documents obtained by the Ford County Chronicle revealed that the school district had received multiple complaints against Pacey, including a formal Title IX sexual harassment complaint dated March 21 alleging sexual assault and grooming of a child under age 13; a complaint dated April 8 alleging a female student and a group of her friends were inappropriately touched in 2019 and 2020; and a complaint dated Sept. 14, 2021, alleging Pacey hit a female junior high cross-country runner on her head at one of the team’s meets and told her to keep quiet or he would “tape (her) mouth shut.”
There appear to have been more claims made than just those, though, Magers said.
“If there is a reason to believe that there are only two claims against him over his tenure here at PBL, let me enlighten you,” Magers told the board. “Over 10 young women have openly expressed that they have reported an incident of sexual misconduct to PBL administration. Three have reported instances of physical abuse. And there are allegedly even more reports of other students, teachers and coaches witnessing sexual misconduct over the last 15 years.”
Pacey — a 17-year employee of the PBL school district and lifelong Paxton resident who also serves as a Ward 3 alderman on the Paxton City Council and as a Ford County Republican precinct committeeman, plus as a member of numerous local civic organizations — has adamantly denied any wrongdoing, and no criminal charges had been filed.
“I can say without a doubt I have done nothing wrong,” Pacey said in a statement last month. “I am looking forward to the investigation being completed as quickly as possible, returning to work and putting this all behind us.”