Disovering that felons work in school systems happens more often than one might wish. This week, Education World examines the problems that have led many communities and states to require background checks for all school personnel. Included: Practical tips from attorneys and other experts who specialize in school safety issues.
Tennessee is one state trying to make its schools safer. Starting January 1, 2000, Tennessee will "make criminal background checks mandatory for applicants for teaching positions and other positions having proximity to children."
"Previously, the law was permissive," Tennessee School Boards Association staff attorney Christy L. Ballard told Education World. She noted a current provision that requires "all persons applying for teaching positions and other positions requiring proximity to children to disclose whether they have been convicted of a misdemeanor or a felony in Tennessee or any other state." That provision, Ballard said, also requires applicants to disclose whether they have been dismissed for certain reasons specified in other sections of the code.
"The statute provides that any knowing falsification of the required information shall be sufficient grounds for termination of employment and shall also constitute a Class A misdemeanor, which must be reported to the district attorney general for prosecution," adds Ballard.
Tennessee isn't the only state taking action.
"Most states now require fingerprinting and obtaining a criminal history," attorney Dean Pickett, a specialist in school law, told Education World. Pickett was among the speakers at this year's annual conference of the National School Boards Association's Council of School Attorneys. "This is vital to the screening process, but it must be done with the understanding that it will reveal only those who have encountered the criminal justice system in some way. Our studies teach us that the typical pedophile employed in our schools makes his or her way through three different school employment settings before being stopped."
There are ways to limit the possibility that situations like those will occur, Pickett told Education World.
"Adopt a common application form for prospective school employees that requests all the information the district needs, not just what a candidate has highlighted on a rsum," said Pickett. "Make it clear that applicants who give incomplete or false information about their backgrounds can be fired, criminally prosecuted, or have their licenses revoked."
School systems also need to alter the way they give out references for former employees, added Pickett. "If we want good-faith responses to requests for information about employees, we must protect public employers from defamation suits when they provide them. Out of fear of being sued for defamation, or in exchange for resignations without a fight, many employers give positive or neutral references for former employees who have histories of improprieties."
"Lying is legally fatal," said Pickett. "The California Supreme Court's decision in Randi W. v. Muroc Joint Unified School held a series of five school districts and their administrators liable when, time after time, they gave glowing references to a former administrator. The administrator was accused of serious improper behavior with students at each former work site and then was sued for such behavior with a student in his new place of employment.
"Saying nothing when the administrator has knowledge of prior bad acts and knowledge that the former employee is seeking employment with children is more and more likely to result in litigation," added Pickett. "When an employee suspected of improper behavior resigns, there should be no negotiation of settlement agreements that place a gag order on telling the truth."
Education World talked with Peter D. Blauvelt, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Safe Schools, and St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, school board member Neal Hennegan. The two men suggested other ways to make schools safer for the children who attend them:
When the American Association of University Women Foundation surveyed more than 1,600 students in eighth through 11th grade, 25 percent of the girls and 10 percent of the boys who said they had been harassed or abused said the harasser was a school employee. Another nationwide search conducted last year uncovered 244 cases of sex offenses against students by school employees within just a six-month period. The offenses involved everything from unwanted touching to years-long sexual relationships and serial rape. The students ranged in age from kindergartners to high schoolers, and most -- about two-thirds -- were female. Most of the abusers -- more than seven out of ten -- were teachers; principals, janitors, bus drivers, and librarians. In only two of the cases did authorities ultimately conclude that students had fabricated claims.
In many states, school employees who have sex with students aren't committing criminal acts. In 20 states, sex between a student and an adult employee is perfectly legal as long as the student is 16. If the student is 17, add three more states to the list. In an additional 25 states, it is legal if the student has turned 18. Currently, sex between a school employee and a student of age is legal in 48 states! Additionally, the National School Boards Association, American Federation of Teachers, and National Education Association have no policy stating sex between school employees and students should not exist, according to a 1998 Education Week story, 'Zero Tolerance' of Sex Abuse Proves Elusive. There is very little concerted national attention paid to the problem or to the need for aggressive efforts to curtail it, but the Ed Week article did offer additional suggestions from attorneys:
After several high-profile cases that galvanized activists and captured lawmakers' attention, several states have adopted stricter laws. Others have jumped on board to help.
Many members of the education community still cling to the notion that sex between school personnel and students is a rare, idiosyncratic occurrence, but few people whose lives have been touched by the problem share that view. A 48 Hours TV segment, "Teacher's Pet," first aired in April of 1998, described the lives of several children who had been abused by school employees as they grew up. As they got older, many turned to drugs or alcohol -- or worse -- to wipe the experience from their minds. Others suffered from anorexia.
Terri Miller, a Nevada mother of four, successfully lobbied in her state last year for tough laws to bar school employees from sexual relations with students. Miller told Education Week: "Students commit suicide over this, or they are crippled emotionally for life. As a parent, I send my children to school to be educated, not to be abused by the person I'm entrusting them with." (See the Education Week story, Sex With Students: When Employees Cross the Line.)
There are signs of progress; many states are taking visible steps to improve the protection they provide their charges from the time they get on the school bus to the time they get off it. Are schools doing all they can? How many indelible scars on young lives will it take to wake-up school districts that have yet to modify any of their old policies? Shouldn't 244 reported cases of sex offenses against students by school employees in a six-month period be enough of a wake-up call?
Please check out our other articles this week:
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
Copyright © 2006 Education World
09/20/1999
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