When Faith Colson was an Illinois high school student she was made to feel special by one of her teachers. He became a trusted adult to whom she could turn when needed. Until he wasn’t.
Until he kissed her then sexually abused her. Until he betrayed her trust.
During the course of legal proceedings related to the abuse, Faith learned that several adults within her high school suspected that the teacher’s relationship with her was inappropriate but did not take appropriate action to report their concerns. As a result of her experiences, Faith pushed for changes to state laws related to educator sexual misconduct in K-12 schools. Faith’s Law was passed by the 102nd General Assembly as two separate pieces of legislation, the first went into effect in December 2021 and the second part became effective in July 2023.
The original legislation established the definition of sexual misconduct within the School Code and outlined the requirements for schools to develop and post employee code of professional conduct policies. The updated legislation adds employment history reviews as part of the hiring and vetting process for schools and school contractors, requires notices to be provided to parents/guardians and the applicable student when there’s an alleged act of sexual misconduct, and makes other changes to the process schools must follow when handling allegations of sexual misconduct.
Faith’s Law was intended to protect all students, but as written it didn’t take into consideration students who were 18 years old or older. As a result, when a student turned 18 they were no longer protected by Faith’s Law. What’s more, in Illinois students with disabilities can continue their high school education until they reach the age of 23. They too are not covered by the law.
Illinois State Representative Amy Elik identified the loophole in the law when a close relative was abused by her teacher. Elik’s legislation, which has several bipartisan co-sponsors including Rep. Tom Weber, would close the loophole and protect all students, regardless of age, from acts of sexual conduct or sexual abuse by an educator or school staff member. Despite the need for the measure, the legislation remains bottled up in the Senate assignments committee.
Listen to Betraying Faith on the Capitol Crimes Podcast below: