"A Master Manipulator"

Continuing with our posts of other well-respected teachers and administrators accused of child molestation, today we are focusing on Jon White, a popular teacher with the second-graders in his Urbana, IL school. He was very creative and made learning fun. He was especially friendly with the little girls and showered them with attention, sharing with some how they resembled adult actresses. He thought school should be fun for himself too so he invented games for the young girls to play. His most memorable game was the "tasting game". It was really quite simple. Mr. White would blindfold a little girl--usually at recess--cover a banana in sauce and have her lick it off. It was the girl's responsibility to guess what she was tasting. If she got the answer right, she got a prize--candy or even fake fingernails. Only problem was that Mr. White derived sexual pleasure from this activity and played it with increasing numbers of little girls. Odd, none of the girls actually saw the "banana" as they were blindfolded. Mr. White also taught them how to bob their little heads up and down as they licked it.

Three parents complained to the district after their daughters told remarkably similar stories and they were assured that an investigation was taking place. It wasn't until a mother mentioned the "ongoing" investigation to a police officer's wife that another report was made. Hmmmm. No report had actually been made. Mr. White was arrested and charged with numerous child sexual assault charges. When the parents were called to testify in pre-trial motions, they testified that their daughters had demonstrated the game and they had not asked any leading questions. They didn't have to as the girls wanted to share about the game. Sadly, one little girl felt something might not be right as she told her mother that she was afraid.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts-police-and-fire/2007-10-26/parents-say-they-complained-about-white-weeks-arrest.html

In April 2008, Mr. White admitted to sexual misconduct that did not involve physical contact with 10 girls in Urbana and Normal. Turns out that Mr. White had played the tasting game at another school where he'd taught earlier. This was a plea bargain of lesser charges as White originally was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault, counts which alleged direct physical contact with the girls. I guess, due to the plea, we'll never know exactly what those assaults involved. The prosecutor called Mr. White "a master manipulator, a deceiver and a betrayer of trust".

The judge fully agreed and sentenced Mr. White to 48-60 years in the Illinois state prison.

http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_04e5b949-69f6-5270-9a02-9c681d99e9a1.html

By 2009, three school administrators had been found guilty of failure to report sexual abuse. I guess they forgot all about mandated reporting. Several lawsuits are currently pending against the district, all because a well liked teacher crossed the line and people looked the other way for a long time:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/courts-police-and-fire/2009-02-26/third-urbana-school-administrator-found-guilty-white-case.htm

Yet again, I want to make clear that Mr. White's case is not Mr. Adams' case.  Mr. White's guilt does not equal Mr. Adams' guilt.  The point is, many respected teachers are accused of sexual molestation all the time.  While some accusations are proven to be false, sometimes they are not.  Unfortunately many child predators are very skilled at what they do.  They can appear to be fantastic teachers and administrators.  Often times the children appear to really like them, even those being touched inappropriately.  Being a great teacher doesn't mean you aren't capable of doing horrendous things.


Bad Teacher #1, Rob Mocarsky
Bad Teacher #2, Henry Nguyen 
Bad Teacher #3, Dennis Michael McKeown