‘It is appalling': Parents file lawsuit against PBL teacher, district, admin

PAXTON, Ill. (WCIA) — A lawsuit is peeling back the curtain of what parents said their children faced while at school and practice in Ford County. It includes accusations of grooming and sexually assaulting kids for more than a decade — and the families feel the Paxton-Buckley-Loda School District didn't do enough to stop it.
WCIA previously reported about complaints around teacher and coach Robert Pacey. The suit calls him out… But doesn't stop there. Three people, including two parents, are suing the PBL school district and several administrators for what they said is a lack of action.
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The suit said the PBL Junior High administration was made aware that Pacey needed to improve his interactions with students in 2009. That's when accusations of inappropriate touching and behavior started.
A lawyer representing those who filed the suit said it only got worse from there.
'One of the main frustrations for people in the community is that there have been so many reports,' Chicago-based lawyer Bhavani Raveendran said.
Reports stretch back 16 years. Raveendran filed the suit and said allegations about teacher and coach Robert Pacey only continued from there. The PBL School District got several more complaints about his behavior from students and several teachers as well.
'So many individuals reaching out and speaking out about prior reports that have been made, and they have been coming out of the woodwork on social media and in other sources,' Raveendran said.
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But the suit said it didn't stop despite these red flags. It said two students who attended PBL Junior High both told principal Josh Didier that Pacey was extremely inappropriate with girls in class. The document said he touched students — looked up and down their skirts — and accidentally touched their breasts.
'It does not appear that a lot of action was taken to protect kids in the event that these were complaints that were being made based on incidents that did occur,' Raveendran said.
The suit said another one of those happened in 2021 involving the plaintiff named Minor A. She said Pacey hit her on the head at a track meet and said if she didn't shut up he was going to tape her mouth shut. She said she experienced headaches days after.
A couple months later she said she was at a practice Pacey was running. She said he told her she needed to change her shorts because they were not what she would race in. When she went into the locker room — she said Pacey followed her inside and made her change into tighter ones in front of him.
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Between 2009 and 2021, the lawsuit said he was moved between positions — suspended — but never fired and an investigation with DCFS was never started.
'Multiple of my clients are students that do not want to see younger students put in a similar situation,' Raveendran said.
They're asking for $50,000 plus legal costs for each of the 14 counts alleged. WCIA reached out to the PBL School District several times several times on Tuesday — and was told they didn't have anyone in to handle it.
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