Metro East Sun

Dwight Kay fumes Illinois’ business-as-usual way of handling everything has never had more dire consequences.

“Lawmakers should have dealt with this more serious problem before they again bailed the Chicago Public School System out last year,” Kay told the Metro East Sun of the recent sexual assault scandal brought to light by a series of recent Chicago Tribune articles. “They knew earlier because the Tribune had started the series before the bailout money changed hands.”

Numerous CPS students were sexually preyed upon by school district employees over a prolonged period after many of them had only been subjected to minimal background checks, according to the most recent articles.

Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville)

“It’s just a lack of accountability and acceptance of responsibility,” said Kay, running against Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in the 112th District. “Something this egregious that’s not dealt with suggests malfeasance on some level. It’s not like this is the first lapse of judgment or question about management.”

Kay said he sees dark parallels between the way CPS officials have allowed such an abusive culture to persist and the way lawmakers in Springfield have done the same.

“We’ve had enough students come forward where there should have been something done,” he said. “These girls got no help, and you don’t have a culture worse than one in which abuse reported goes unchecked. This is even worse than Springfield because you’re dealing with young people. Illinois answer to everything is to sweep it under the rug. To me, for something like this, that’s criminal behavior

Kay said he would be in favor of a proposal like House Bill 5914 put forth by Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills), which would require the Illinois State Board of Education to “be aware of and monitor, the process of each individual background check” conducted by school districts and also make the act of an authority figure engaging in a sexual relationship with a student a criminal act, regardless of age.

“The bill seems to have real merit and teeth when it comes to accountability and oversight,” he said. “His focus is right on the problem, well as it should be.”