Parents of 10-year-old girl file federal lawsuit against Taylorville
School District over alleged assault
[June 19, 2025]
By Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)
SPRINGFIELD — The parents of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly was
assaulted repeatedly by a 14-year-old student in the Taylorville School
District have filed a federal lawsuit against the school district and
the school bus company.
The lawsuit, filed by a Chicago law firm, contains five counts against
the Taylorville School District and Durham School Services, including
violations of the victim’s Title IX rights, of her right to bodily
integrity under the 14th Amendment, willful and wanton negligence, and
infliction of emotional distress.
The victim is identified in the suit as Jane Doe, a minor. Her parents
are named in the suit, but Capitol News Illinois is not using their
names because it would identify the girl.
The victim’s mother said that over the course of a week between late
January and early February 2024, her daughter was sexually assaulted by
an older student on her daughter’s school bus and at her bus stop. The
court filing alleges that the assaults ranged in severity from fondling
to digital penetration, most often taking place on the school bus where
the perpetrator cornered the girl.
On three separate instances, the perpetrator chased the girl away from a
bus stop, held her down, and covered her mouth while he sexually
assaulted her, according to the suit.
The lawsuit also alleged that the perpetrator told the girl that he
would harm her and her family if she reported the abuse, and that “the
perpetrator admitted that he did not even know (her) name when he
repeatedly assaulted her.”
The girl is a special needs student living with autism and ADHD,
according to the suit.
“We are talking about one of the most vulnerable members of our society
— a young, 10-year-old, special needs girl,” the lead attorney on the
case, Cass Casper, said during a news conference about the lawsuit
Tuesday. “This young child was so confused and distraught by what was
occurring that she did not even understand what was occurring.”A
spokesman for the school district did not respond to a request for
comment by CNI.
After reporting the incident, the mother said she obtained an emergency
order of protection for her daughter and brought it to the principal of
Taylorville Junior High School, who made a “safety plan” for her
daughter. She said the plan prohibited the accused student from coming
into contact with her daughter at school, which the order of protection
already called for, and simply relocated him to another part of the
school building.
“This safety plan was shared with the bus company, my daughter’s fifth
grade teacher and office staff,” the mother said during a news
conference in the Statehouse in January. “No one else knew of the
assaults. No one else knew of the safety plan.”
During that news conference, the mother also said that after several
meetings with the school board and multiple court orders, the student
was removed from her daughter’s school and sent to an alternative school
for the rest of the spring semester. However, in August, she received a
phone call about the student’s reentry into her daughter’s school and
again asked the school to remove her daughter’s perpetrator.
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Sen. Steve McClure (podium), R-Springfield, speaks about the lawsuit
next to Cass Casper, the lead attorney on the case (middle), and the
victim’s parents (right), at a news conference in Springfield on
Tuesday. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)
“We have laws where a student gets expelled for bringing a weapon on
school grounds, but what about cases like this, when the student’s body
is the weapon?” the mother said.
Casper said the school district conducted what he called a “radically
deficient” Title IX investigation. He alleged the school district was
“more concerned with absolving the school district of responsibility”
than of fleshing out what events took place when and where.
Title IX is a federal law enacted in 1972 that prohibits sexual
discrimination in any education program or activity.
The court filing alleged that once the assaults were reported, the
parents were informed about several other young victims in the community
that the perpetrator had previously inappropriately touched.
“We do have specific information from three other sources that there
were similar, not the same, but similar acts that should have raised
questions within the community and within the school officials,” Casper
said.
The lawsuits also mentions a previous Illinois court case decision,
which ruled that a school district is responsible for child abuse
occurring on a school bus, alongside the section in the Taylorville
School District’s Student Discipline Code that says student conduct on
school buses, at extra-curricular activities, on any property within
1,000 feet of school grounds, and “prohibited conduct that is plainly
visible to a person situated on school grounds even if the misconduct
occurs off of school property” is enforceable.
The lawsuit also seeks compensatory damages for the cost of the girl’s
psychological treatment and for her emotional distress, as well as the
implementation of new policies that will “prevent future harassment and
abuse.”
“Most of what the family has pursued in Taylorville has fallen on deaf
ears,” Casper said.
During the news conference, Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, spoke
about the failure of a bill he sponsored seeking to expel students who
sexually assault another student at school. That bill had 31 co-sponsors
in the Senate, 13 of whom were Democrats.
“There are legislators that do not believe that there should be any
expulsion or even suspension for any student at all,” McClure said.
“There’s a focus too much with some legislators on the perpetrator, we
got to look after the perpetrator. What about the victim who can’t even
go to school without seeing someone that attacked them on a daily
basis?”
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