CARTERVILLE — The FBI received a tip about possible sexual abuse involving a Carterville High School employee and former students in November 2024 — yet a year had passed before the district placed the employee on administrative leave and officials notified the state child abuse hotline.
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The sun sets on the press box of the Lion’s Field football stadium at Carterville High School on March 3, 2026, in Carterville, Illinois.
Lylee Gibbs, Saluki Local Reporting Lab
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Light illuminates the entrance of the Carterville High School on the evening of March 3, 2026, in Carterville, Illinois.
Lylee Gibbs, Saluki Local Reporting Lab
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This story was produced for Capitol News Illinois through the Saluki Local Reporting Lab, supported by grant funding from the SIU Foundation and the Illinois Press Foundation. Jackson Brandhorst and Lylee Gibbs are students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and senior members of the Daily Egyptian, SIU’s student newspaper. Brandhorst can be reached at jbrandhorst@dailyegyptian.com and Gibbs at lgibbs@dailyegyptian.com .
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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