Personnel sift through the remains of a house that was destroyed by fire on West Ash Street in Gibson City Saturday morning. Courtesy of Dave Hinton/The News-Gazette
PAXTON — News media have requested to be allowed to use cameras and recording equipment in the courtroom when a hearing is held next month in a civil case alleging the inappropriate touching of female students by suspended Paxton-Buckley-Loda teacher Rob Pacey and the neglect of his superiors to properly address their claims of abuse.
Ryan Denham, the designated media coordinator for the 11th Judicial Circuit, filed a notice of a request for extended media coverage on Thursday, July 31, on behalf of at least one unnamed media outlet.
The notice said “certain representatives of the news media” want to use photographic equipment, television cameras and electronic sound recording equipment in their courtroom coverage of a Sept. 11 status hearing that begins at 10 a.m. at either the Ford County or Mc- Lean County courthouse. Specifically requested was the use of two television cameras, one still camera and one audio recorder.
The notice was sent to Mc- Lean County Judge Rebecca Foley, who was reassigned the civil case after its June 6 filing in Ford County Circuit Court, as well as the five defendants’ attorneys: Emily Schnidt of the Chicago law firm Borkan & Scahill Ltd., who is representing Pacey, and Michael Bersani of Itasca based Hervas, Condon & Bersani P.C., who is representing the Paxton-Buckley Loda school district, former Superintendents Travis Duley and Cliff McClure, and PBL Junior High School Principal Josh Didier.
During the Sept. 11 hearing, Foley is expected to consider the defendants’ responsive pleadings, in addition to other unresolved motions. The defendants’ responses must be filed no later than Friday, Aug. 29.
The civil case was filed by Chicago civil rights attorney Bhavani Raveendran on behalf of four anonymous plaintiffs — Jane Does A, B, C and D — who are all either current or former PBL students. While the case includes three separate lawsuits, Raveendran has filed a motion for them to be consolidated. Foley is expected to rule on that motion, among potentially others, on Sept. 11. Combined, the lawsuits seek more than $50,000 for each of 19 counts.
The lawsuits note that complaints of inappropriate touching of female students by Pacey started being made not long after he was hired in 2008 as a junior high school social studies teacher and assistant junior high cross country coach. However, administrators repeatedly dismissed the claims over the course of more than a decade, ignoring the school district’s own policies by never notifying the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as required, the lawsuits said. Not until this past January — when one of the alleged victims revealed her experiences with Pacey to a therapist, who subsequently contacted DCFS — was the agency ever notified, the suits alleged. And even after the district was informed of an ensuing law enforcement investigation, administrators failed to immediately discipline Pacey, who was not suspended until months later, the suits alleged.
As of this week, Pacey, a 17-year employee of the school district, had not been criminally charged or arrested and remained on paid administrative leave. Pacey, a STEM and technology teacher at Clara Peterson Elementary School and former head PBL Junior High School cross-country and girls’ track coach, has denied any wrongdoing.