Paul Vallas has come under fire for the failure of his administration to launch an investigation into how a pedophile became a trusted mentor at a West Side elementary school after sex abuse crimes committed by the school employee and volunteer came to light 18 years ago while Vallas was the city’s top schools official.
Fellow mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot and Garry McCarthy criticized Vallas on Thursday for not opening an investigation into abuse of students by Marvin Lovett, who has been accused in lawsuits of sexually abusing at least 19 boys while he was a volunteer and employee at Johnson Elementary School in North Lawndale. Lovett was shot to death in April 2000 by a teenage student he abused for five years, and his acts represent the largest known case of sexual abuse involving a Chicago Public Schools worker, volunteer or vendor in recent decades.