Gaps in Accountability Give Sex Abusers Space / States Vary in How Their Schools Prevent or Deal With Rogue Teachers

By ROBERT TANNER

Editor’s Note – In the final installment of a three-day series on sexual misconduct by teachers in America’s schools, the AP examines how a lack of decisive intervention in schools and legislatures allows abusers to keep operating.

Every school has rules governing teacher behavior. Every state has laws against child abuse, and many specifically outlaw teachers taking sexual liberties with students. Every district has administrators who watch out for sexual misconduct by teachers.

Yet people like Chad Maughan stay in the classroom.

Maughan got in trouble twice for viewing pornography at schools in Washington state but was allowed to keep teaching. Within two years, he was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl in his school.

Legal loopholes, fear of lawsuits and inattention have weakened the safeguards that are supposed to protect children in school, an Associated Press investigation found.

State efforts to strengthen laws against sex abuse by teachers have run into opposition from school boards and teacher unions. In Congress, a measure that would train investigators and create a national reg- istry of offenders has not gotten a hearing.

Few leaders recognize, let alone attack, the problem.

“Instead of ignoring it or fighting it, why don’t you get ahead of it?” says Ted Thompson, executive director of the National Association to Prevent Sexual Abuse of Children.

The AP national investigation identified 2,570 cases from 2001 through 2005 in which teachers were punished or removed from the classroom for sexual misconduct.

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While states have taken halting steps toward accountability in recent years after decades of neglect, there still are many gaps.

Some states check fingerprints against records only in their own states, not the FBI databases, so they miss offenders from other states. Others only check for violations when teachers are newly hired, missing veteran teachers who have run afoul of the law since they began their careers.

In Virginia, the state Board of Education said it plans to propose legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session to tighten the background-check and disciplinary processes.

School systems have made attempts at weeding out wrongdoers. For the past 20 years, educators have shared information with other states about teachers who have run into administrative trouble.

The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification created the list, and Roy Einreinhofer, its executive director, says protecting children is one of the group’s top goals.

But the list has its flaws. It only provides identifying information such as names, birth dates and Social Security numbers; nothing describing a teacher’s past problems. That leaves it up to a state agency or a school district to dig deeper.

Created in 1987, the list contains names of some 37,000 teachers who have had license problems, which includes all misbehavior, not just sexual.

Similar piecemeal efforts have often run into resistance – from lawmakers reluctant to tackle the subject, from teacher unions concerned with privacy and due process, and from school boards worried about court fights.

Some union officials say the dangers are overstated.

“We’re turning some of this now into a modern-day witch hunt and making it very difficult for teachers to have to say, ‘I’m not one of those.’ It’s the wrong signal to send,” says Steve Monaghan, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers.

His state this spring declared it a crime punishable by up to six months in prison for a teacher to have sex with a student even if the youth is over the age of consent.

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Advocates argue that what is needed is a coordinated national approach, but there has been virtually no momentum there.

A report ordered by Congress and released in 2004 examined previous studies and surveys of teacher sexual misconduct. It estimated that some 4.5 million students out of 50 million in American public schools “are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade.”

But that report, compiled by Charol Shakeshaft, head of the educational leadership department at Virginia Commonwealth University, largely was ignored.

This year, U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Fla., proposed legislation to create a national public registry of convicted offenders in schools, better training of investigators and a national hot line for reports of sexual abuse in school. The bill still hasn’t received a hearing.

Those who have fought for years to try to raise awareness of the issue see incremental gains, and the AP analysis found a steady increase in teachers removed from the classroom from 2001 through 2005. But advocates are not satisfied.

“We are mandated to send our children to school, yet our schools are not being mandated to keep our children safe,” says Terri Miller, president of SESAME, Inc., which stands for Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation.

“That is a horrendous problem, and that needs to be fixed.”

To victims’ advocates, the problem is not just teachers who look the other way when one of their own misbehaves. It isn’t only school principals who choose a quiet solution to a problem. Lawmakers, judges, the news media and even parents all have shown a great deal of reluctance to recognize and deal with sex abuse when it surfaces.

“Societally, we have a problem,” says Mary Jo McGrath, a California attorney who has worked on teacher sexual-abuse cases for three decades. “Our inability to think that kids might be in danger, our inability to think that the nicest teacher on the block might be an offender – those things keep us uneducated. I’m passionate that people wake up.”

What can parents do?

Talk to your children. Make sure they feel comfortable telling you if a teacher, or anyone, has said or done something that makes them uncomfortable. Be a good listener.

Check communication between teacher and student. Monitor e- mails, text messages, phone calls, Internet social networking and blogs, greeting cards and yearbooks. A teacher’s communications should be about school, not the child’s personal life.

Monitor activites. After-school activities should be encouraged, but be aware of time spent with a teacher and what goes on. There should be no out-of-school, one-on-one meetings.

Be suspicious of gifts or car rides. Most experts say teachers should not be giving gifts to individual students or car rides, except for emergencies.

Notice how your child and their friends talk about teachers. If they say a teacher is a “friend,” find out more. If they joke or mention rumors about a teacher’s crush, or that a teacher is a “perv,” don’t dismiss it. Ask why they say that.

Watch for abusive or sexual behavior. If your child tells you that a teacher made a sexual joke, brushed up against her, discussed sex or requested a kiss or a date, find out more. Bring it to the attention of school authorities and the police.

Question your child if you suspect abuse. Try to stay calm. Children have a hard time differentiating between your disapproval of an adult’s behavior and your disapproval of them. Try not to ask leading questions such as “Did he touch your thigh?”

Don’t keep it to yourself. If you’re suspicious, talk to school authorities. They can question other teachers and students. Follow up and make sure school officials take action. If the behavior indicates a crime or that school authorities don’t take you seriously, contact police.

SOURCES: education attorney Mary Jo McGrath, VCU professor Charol Shakeshaft, Kansas State University professor Robert Shoop

ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO

MEMO: TEACHER SEX ABUSE

Originally published by The Associated Press.

(c) 2007 Richmond Times – Dispatch. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.