Teacher Smackdown

In Illinois, teacher Jon Andrew White is accused of molesting 11 students nine at Urbana’s Thomas Paine Elementary School and two at Colene Hoose Elementary in Normal. All were second grade girls.

White faces three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, and 13 counts of aggravated criminal abuse. If convicted of two of the more serious predatory criminal sexual assault counts, White faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Not only did White molest the children, but schoool officials were slow to remove him from the classroom after parents told them about a “tasting game” White was playing with their children. Parents said that although the principal, superintendent and human resources director were notified of White’s behavior in November of 2005, the second-grade teacher remained in his classroom until January 31, 2006 when police arrested him at work.

(This is horrible and the school district knows it. Maybe that’s why the principal, superintendent and HR director have all retired since the case came to light.)

And why was he finally arrested? Not because of school authorities reporting him to police. In fact, 48 hours before White’s arrest, Urbana police received a tip about White from a University of Illinois police officer. The officer’s wife had been told about the “tasting game” by the mother who had complained to school officials in early November.

So what’s the “tasting game”? (I hope you have a strong stomach.)

After picking up her seven-year-old daughter from school, a mother noticed that her daughter was wearing red rubber fingernails. The girl said that they got to play the taste-testing game and she won a prize. The mom learned from her daughter that the game took place in White’s classroom after school - sometimes with just her daughter, and sometimes with other girls.

According to the girl, the game involved White putting toppings on a banana and having the girls taste the banana to identify the toppings. When the mom asked if her daughter ever saw the banana, her daughter told her they always had blindfolds on. Then the girl described a second game White played, and show her mom how the teacher put his hand on the back of the girls’ heads while they bobbed their heads.

So do you think it was a banana or a penis? Or was he just mimicking oral sex with the girls for his sexual pleasure? Since White faces charges that allege actual contact between his sex organ and the girls, it probably wasn’t a banana.

Two other mothers have testified about the “tasting game.” Another mother said her daughter told her that White had touched her private area while they watched a movie in a dark classroom. That mom called the police to report the abuse after White had been arrested.