Ex-Illinois Teacher Of The Year Won't Lose Pension Despite Guilty Plea In Sex Abuse Case

An Illinois Teacher of the Year from the 1990s who taught at Rolling Meadows High School will be able to keep his pension of more than $75,000 despite pleading guilty earlier this month as part of a deal to avoid serving any jail time for sexually abusing a visiting student at an East Coast prep school he worked at in the 1970s. As part of an agreement May 12, Arthur Peekel, 75, of Palatine, was given a year suspended sentence and fined $1,200 by a Rockingham County judge in New Hampshire. He also must register as a sex offender for the next 10 years.

But because he pleaded guilty to misdemeanors and not felonies, Peekel will not have his annual retirement pension of $76,354 revoked, according to the Daily Herald. Under Illinois law, Peekel could have had his pension taken away if he had been convicted of a felony, even though his crimes were not committed while he was teaching in a state school district, the report added. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Palatine news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

RELATED: Ex-Illinois Teacher Of The Year Pleads Guilty In 1970s Sex Abuse Case

One thing Peekel — a 1959 graduate of Palatine High School — is expected to lose is his Teacher of the Year title for the 1991-92 school year, the report stated. Before that can happen, however, the Illinois Board of Education needs to create a policy that would allow the state body to strip of him of the award, the report added. Since his plea deal, Peekel has had his distinguished alumni plaque at Palatine High School taken down, and he also was stripped of his Milken Educator Award, which honors outstanding educators, the Herald reports.

RELATED: Ex-Rolling Meadows Teacher From Palatine Charged in '70s Sex Assault Case

Peekel turned himself in last May after accusations concerning a 1973 incident when he was an admissions officer at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. Charges against Peekel came after a Boston Globe report investigated sexual abuse claims at the academy. In the report, a former prospective student who was 14 at the time accused Peekel of fondling him during an overnight on-campus visit in the fall of 1973.
Peekel had denied the allegations when questioned by school officials at the time, and he took a leave of absence that same year before resigning from Exeter in 1974 to care for his sick mother in Illinois.

Peekel was a social studies teacher at Rolling Meadows High School in Township High School District 214 from 1986 until he retired in 2004. He also taught for a brief time in Township High School District 211, which covers Palatine, Schaumburg and parts of Arlington Heights, during his time as an Illinois educator, a tenure that was a little less than 24 years.

RELATED: Ex-State Teacher Of The Year Pleads Not Guilty In Sexual Assault Case From 1970s

Last year, Rolling Meadows High School officials told the Chicago Tribune that they had been unaware of the prospective student's accusations from the '70s when Peekel was hired in the 1980s. During his 18 years at the school, no reports of abuse had been leveled against Peekel.

More via the Daily Herald

Arthur Peekel, 75 (photo via Patch archive)

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