Jon White's Past

The questions of sexual assault at Thomas Paine Elementary have sparked debate over who has responsibility for keeping sex offenders out of schools. The Urbana school district's director of human resources Carmelita Thomas says the district did everything mandated by state law. The man being accused of playing oral sex games with three female students, Jon White, had a criminal background check and was fingerprinted before he was hired on in Urbana in August 2005. But when it comes to reference checks a district administrator says they fell short. Thomas says it's district policy for principals to make reference calls in regards to previous work experience. She says to her knowledge, Principal Janice Bradley didn't make those calls. . According to police in Normal, where white used to teach, this is what they would have found: Officers there say White was put on a week suspension for inappropriate behavior in November 2004. The superintendent there wouldn't say what that behavior was, but says it wasn't criminal. Sources say White was forced to resign from McLean County. Thomas says the Urbana School District didn't find out any of this. She says fellow teachers gave White good letters of recommendations. Thomas says all three of those letters were from McLean County; two were from former teachers. Today she said she doesn't believe those letters were double-checked, because that is not part of state law or district policy. The district says it will overhaul its hiring practices now. Thomas says one of the changes could be double-checking letters of recommendation to make sure they're even legit.