Virginia Reviews Rules for Teachers / Of Six Abusers State Reported, One Taught in Several Systems

Virginia education officials are looking into tightening the state’s teacher-licensure system to ensure that people who sexually abuse children aren’t allowed to return to the classroom.

The state Department of Education is examining state law and education regulations to enhance the safety of public school students. The move comes as The Associated Press started a nationwide look into licensure revocations that involved teachers sexually abusing students.

Six educators lost their state teaching licenses between 2001-05 because of confirmed sexual abuse against students, according to records released by the state Department of Education. Thirteen other teachers’ licenses were revoked, for cases that might have involved sexual abuse, but state records didn’t specify. Six teachers lost their licenses for nonsexual misconduct.

The records included a repeat offender named Michael Wayne Allee. Here is a snapshot of the Allee case, based on the documents:

In Lynchburg: He was accused in 2001 of writing sexually inappropriate letters to an underage female student in Lynchburg Juvenile Detention Center, where he was a teacher. After a complaint was filed, he got a job as a high school teacher in Bedford County.

In Bedford County: School officials suspended Allee on May 28, 2003, after the discovery of founded sexual-abuse complaints involving three female minors before he was hired and one child- abuse complaint while he was employed.

He was subsequently convicted in Bedford County of forging a signature on his background check to conceal the Lynchburg complaint. He received two years probation for the felony.

In Nelson County: Before Bedford’s school system suspended his teaching license in May 2003, Nelson County hired him as a special- education teacher for the 2003-04 school year. There he was charged with sexually abusing two female middle-school students.

In Richmond: The state Board of Education didn’t permanently revoke Allee’s teaching license until Oct. 22, 2003, in response to the Bedford complaints. That was five days after Nelson County suspended him.

Allee subsequently pleaded guilty in December 2004 to sexual battery in the Nelson County cases and served seven months in jail.

The mother of one of the Nelson County victims filed a civil suit against Allee and school administrators. A court date has not been set.

Allee now lives in Madison County, according to the state police sex-offender registry.

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The Virginia Board of Education plans to propose legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session to tighten the background check and disciplinary process, board President Mark E. Emblidge said.

Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle said the board is evaluating possible changes.

“This is an area where we’ve been looking at the code and the current regulations to see whether any provisions . . . need to be tightened to make sure these cases are brought to the board’s attention in a timely manner,” Pyle said, “and that there’s a clear means for the board . . . to move against the license even if a school division has neglected to bring the matter to the board’s attention.”

“From now on, forever, we’re going to ask ourselves, ‘Can we do a better job?’ ” Emblidge said.

Staff writer Holly Prestidge contributed to this report.

MEMO: TEACHER SEX ABUSE

Originally published by The Associated Press.

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