North Cook News

Nine families have filed civil lawsuits against Arlington Heights School District 25 alleging that former school nurse Tory Eitz had stolen and replaced students' prescription medications with over-the-counter drugs.

Eitz, who was responsible for dispensing medications at Westgate Elementary School from 2021 to 2024, reportedly manipulated parents into believing that medications were lost or miscounted.

The families, represented by Romanucci & Blandin, are calling for full accountability, both civil and criminal, for Eitz and the district officials involved.

The lawsuits claim that Eitz replaced the missing medications with non-prescription substances, such as aspirin. Some of the medications involved were controlled substances, and the results were severe with one child testing positive for fentanyl.

The lawsuits also allege that District 25 administrators, including Principal Ann Buck and then-Assistant Superintendent Brian Kaye, failed to act on multiple warnings about Eitz’s actions, allowing the misconduct to persist for years. 

The families claim the district's inaction contributed to the harm, asserting that school officials were aware of the nurse's behavior but chose not to intervene, putting students at risk.

Jennifer McGuffin, s that attorneys offered several examples of how administrators at Arlington Heights School District 25 is culpable for the action of the nurse.  

"The attorney has provided a bit of detail on when the school was informed and what they knew," Jennifer McGuffin, Chief Communications Officer at Romanucci & Blandin, told North Cook News. 

During an April 17 press conference Michael Holden, a partner at Romanucci & Blandin, detailed the impact the district's inaction had on the affected children.

“Arlington Heights School District 25 utterly failed to support medically vulnerable children by allowing a school nurse to act with impunity when she failed to provide the children proper prescription medication and controlled substance medication during school hours,”  Holden said. “Instead of being a trusted support person as the students learn and grow, Westgate Elementary School nurse Tori Eitz instead did real and future harm to nine children and disrupted their health, education. And sense of trust and security, while her employer, Arlington Heights School District 25, Principal Ann Buck, and then Superintendent Brian Kay had sufficient notice and ability to stop her and chose not to.”  

Holden emphasized the broader consequences of the district’s inaction. 

“These reckless behaviors and decisions not to intervene have destroyed these children's trust in authority figures and healthcare providers, disrupted their social emotional learning in school, resulted in missed educational opportunities, diminished their self-worth and self-confidence from out of routine write-ups and removal from classrooms, disrupted their medical treatment, often including increased dosage of medication because the perception was that the current dose wasn't working, and disrupted the family dynamic,” Holden said. 

The district knew about the issues but failed to act, Holden said. 

“During the course of our civil investigation, we learned that District 25 administrators and school officials knew of improper administration of medication, missing medication, and the failure to follow protocols when that medication went missing,” Holden said. “This knowledge goes back as far as November 2021 with a written communication from You can see some of the examples of their notice in the complaint as well as the posters we've provided here. Defendants Anne Buck and Brian Kaye were aware of the concerns that Eitz was breaching her trust with the students and the families as a medical professional working as a school nurse for District 25. Eitz should have been reported and terminated at the time of the first parent report. We believe the evidence is a clear indication of District 25's notice and active complicity in Torrey Eitz’s actions.” 

Michael Cerasa, another partner at Romanucci & Blandin, also spoke about the scope of the harm caused by Eitz’s actions and the school district’s failure to intervene.

“The harm done to each of these children is very real and it is impossible to yet assess the long-term impacts of Nurse Eitz's actions,” Cerasa said. “As these people grow into young adults and adults, Only then will the full impact of these actions be found. Keep in mind that before any manipulation of their medication, each of these children had special health conditions that they were dealing with during the school day. The manipulation of their medications, the missing of their mediation, and the swapping of their meditation had profound impacts on their learning environment and their home environment.” 

Cerasa also stressed that while Eitz’s actions are the focus of the lawsuit, the district’s leadership is equally culpable. 

“The reckless and intentional decisions made by Arlington heights school district 25. Principal Anne Buck and then Assistant Superintendent Brian K. Clearly violated their duty to supervise nurse Tory Eitz,” Cerasa said. “They were aware of missing medication and parents' concerns as early as November 2021, including written communications in May and June of 2022 that should have been reason enough to conduct an internal investigation and or terminate her access to dispensing medication to children. The notice of concern also should have a catalyst to report Tory Eitz to the Illinois Department of Children and Families as is mandated under Illinois law.”

Both Holden and Cerasa emphasized the long-term emotional and physical consequences for the children affected by this incident, noting that many have been traumatized, with some experiencing nightmares and extreme anxiety. One family described the experience as "earth-shattering," as their child's academic performance and behavior deteriorated due to the disruption in medication.

The lawsuit also highlights that the district and its leadership are legally required to report suspected abuse or neglect under the Illinois Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act. 

Despite knowing about the issues, neither Principal Buck nor Kaye took the necessary steps to protect the children, according to the complaint.

The state of Illinois has already filed a 13-count criminal indictment against Eitz, who faces charges of official misconduct, forgery, and child endangerment. Her criminal trial is ongoing, with a status hearing scheduled for May 5, 2025.

The nine families are seeking a trial by jury and at least $50,000 in damages for the harm caused by the actions of Nurse Eitz and the failure of Arlington Heights School District 25 to intervene.

Parent advocacy group Awake Illinois noted the incident on X. 

“Since this is getting ZERO coverage, we will post how the IL public school system FAILED at least 9 families by ignoring complaints of a teacher who was committing fraud and negligence including exposing at least one child to FENTANYL,”  Awake Illinois said.

“But @VoteTCH thinks homeschoolers are bad?” 

Awake Illinois was referencing the ongoing debate over Illinois' Homeschool Act (HB2827), which has faced strong opposition from homeschool advocates, including those in minority communities. 

Critics argue the bill could lead to excessive state monitoring and violate Fourth Amendment protections.