PRINCEVILLE, Ill. (25 News) – A group of parents in Princeville have started a petition calling for the removal of the school district’s superintendent following allegations he roughly handled a young student.
According to 25 News, the petition currently has at least 57 signatures and claims there is “a pattern of behavior that has damaged trust, morale, and transparency within the district.”
Just over 30 parents and community members gathered at High Voltage Taphouse in Princeville Wednesday night to sign the petition.
The parents are accusing Princeville Community Unit School District #326 Superintendent Tony Shinall, who was hired to the district in 2023, of roughly handling a four-year-old boy and lifting him off the ground.
The boy’s parent, Kaylee Berg, said her son was called into the principal’s office on October 27, for disciplinary reasons. The boy told her after the fact that Shinall grabbed him, lifted him a short distance off the ground and placed him on a couch.
Berg said her son told her about the incident when he came home.
“He showed me how far he got lifted up off the ground which was probably like a foot and a half,” Berg said. “But then he said, ‘Adults aren’t supposed to grab kids like that.'”
The parents and the school district agree the boy was not hurt during the incident. When 25 News asked if the boy had any bruises or visible injuries, his mother said he did not.
In a statement, School Board President Amy Davis said the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Illinois State Police were called to investigate complaints of the superintendent acting inappropriately with students.
“Following the investigations, both agencies cleared Superintendent Shinall of any wrongdoing,” the statement read.
Shinall’s personal attorney Kevin Sullivan also said his client did not inappropriately touch a student or use force. “My client told the young person to sit on the couch. That person refused. My client then coaxed the young person and had him sit on the cushion, on the couch,” Sullivan said.
The child’s mother said prosecutors told her Wednesday that since there were no injuries, the case wasn’t going to be pursued any further. Despite this outcome, Berg was at the petitioning event Wednesday and doesn’t plan to stop working to learn more about what happened.
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