Teacher Smackdown

New Jersey’s Home News Tribune explores a recent rash of teacher sex abuse cases in Middlesex county in Districts hit by educator sex crimes. Greg Tufaro’s comprehensive article not only explores the “epidemic” but looks at the problem of some states not requiring that sexual abuse of children be reported to police:

In instances in which a teacher voluntarily surrenders his or her certificate without yet being criminally convicted of sexual contact with a minor, the forfeiture is accepted in a form letter with the full effect of a revocation but without details, because the Board of Examiners is not permitted legally to discuss the allegation; it can only confirm the surrender.

Such cases tend to involve a negotiated settlement between the teacher and district and/or teacher and prosecutors. Miller said posting revocations in that manner is problematic because it keeps the criminal charges off the Board of Examiners’ public record.

The article also mentions to websites which you should check out:

educator sex crimes, sexual abuse of children, child abuse, teach-student affair

With recent stories of teachers sexually abusing kids in New York state, the NY Senate Majority Conference is introducing another bill to protect kids from predatory teachers.

The legislation calls for the immediate decertification of teachers following a conviction for a serious crime against a child. It also requires schools to contact the child’s parents and law enforcement whenever a report of abuse is made. If you’re a reader of this blog, you’ll know that school administrators don’t always call the police. Instead, they let the abusive teacher resign and telling the parents that it’s better to get rid of them then go through a police investigation or trial.

(more…)

Senate Bill 724, written by a bi-partisan trio of legislators pushing for better background checks in their state’s schools is making its way through the Oregon House of Representatives.

Jerry Krummel (R-Wilsonville), a licensed teacher, Representative Jeff Barker (D-Aloha) and Representative Linda Flores (R-Clackamas) are calling for mandatory state and federal background checks for any employees, contractors or volunteers a school district feels may have direct, unsupervised contact with students.

This rigorous screening is already required for licensed teachers in Oregon. The average cost to the district or the applicant is $50-$70. It’s money well spent if it stops one kid from being molested.

Do you know what kind of screening your school district does? Call their office and ask!

Enjoyed reading this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here.

[tags]sexual abuse, child abuse, teachers abusing kids, legislation, Oregon, background checks[tags]

Did you know that your children’s principal is in the process of hiring or has already hired teachers for next year? What is he or she doing to check their background? Pantagraph.com has two articles on this subject of teacher hiring in Indiana that you should check out:

Law would force schools to share concerns about educators

Prospective teachers face scrutiny, but is it enough?

Enjoyed reading this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed by clicking here.

teacher hiring, predator, sexual offender, background checks, legislation

After seeing stories of teachers bragging on Facebook that they had sex with their students, MySpace’s announcement yesterday was good to hear. MySpace said that they will be working with state attorney generals who request the identities of MySpace members who are known child sex offenders.

Since parole conditions for sex offenders ordinarily say that they cannot be in contact with children, it’s important that predators are removed off MySpace and similar social networking sites that attract kids.

(more…)