The Illinois Senate advanced a plan last week that would ensure students who commit sexually violent crimes can be expelled from school.
The chamber voted 48-3, with two voting present, to pass Senate Bill 939 sponsored by Republican Senator Steve McClure of Springfield which would require students who initiate sexual assault to be expelled for at least one year, or at least six months for initiating nonconsensual sexual acts.
The bill would apply to incidents that happen at school, school property such as buses, and school-related events.
The bill was filed last year after an incident in Taylorville where a 10-year-old girl was allegedly sexually assaulted by a 14-year-old male student on the bus, who then chased the girl from the bus stop and raped her, according to the girl’s mother.
She obtained an order of protection, and the student was removed from the school for the rest of the semester but later returned.
