From Deseret News archives:
Charges of teacher misconduct are on rise
Utah teachers have been charged with a rash of sex offenses in recent weeks.
Data collected by the State Office of Education's Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission — the ones who investigate alleged teacher misconduct — indicate a history of such problems. In nine of the past 15 years, sexual misconduct was the No. 1 reason for teachers losing a license, accounting for more than half — and during one year, 86 percent — of the lot.
The State Office of Education says its system of preventing bad guys from becoming teachers, and punishing them once they do bad things, is better than ever.
However, it still has flaws. Mainly, how do you detect someone is going to hurt students — even if it's just repeated off-color or flirty comments or borderline inappropriate touching and text-messaging, which some say is an increasing problem these days — before they've ever done anything, or, perhaps, been called on misbehavior?
A national problem
Five Utah schoolteachers have been charged with sexual abuse of students in the past few months.
Such allegations are a national issue. Just this month, an Alabama high school teacher was charged with having sex with at least four students and allegedly involving one in a plot to kill her husband.
A national researcher questions whether the nation's school leaders are vigilant enough in pursuing alleged offenses.
A 2004 report prepared for the U.S. Department of Education found, in many cases, that school leaders often failed to turn over cases to authorities.
The report prepared by Charol Shakeshaft, a professor at Hofstra University in Huntington, N.Y., examined scores of studies in the document titled "Educator Sexual Misconduct: A Synthesis of Existing Literature."
One revealed that in 225 cases of admitted sexual abuse by educators in New York, no teacher was reported to authorities and only 1 percent lost their licenses.
Of those who received a negative consequence, 15 percent were fired or not rehired, and 20 percent got a formal reprimand or suspension. Another 25 percent faced basically no consequences for their actions and nearly 39 percent left the district with positive recommendations and/or retirement packages in place.
"The studies, which include documentation of the consequences of educator sexual misconduct, primarily focus on what happens after allegations are made. Most document the ways in which schools and districts fail to remove abusers from the classroom," Shakeshaft said in an interview with the Deseret Morning News.
