"NY targets Teacher sex enforcement, awareness" that's the title of the article.
Jan 27, 2008 - The Associated Press is reporting that New York legislators will be considering legislation this session to "reduce the rise in teachers having sex with students."
In a largely self-congratulatory article, the AP says that "at least 16 states are now considering tougher laws to punish teacher sexual misconduct and stronger oversight to keep abusers out of classrooms following an Associated Press series on the topic run nationwide in October." And, "In eight states, leaders pushing changes said the AP investigation had inspired their proposals."
[See AP article, "Lawmakers Crack Down on Abusive Teachers" for an overview, with more specificity, of what some states are considering.]
As a catalyst for several proposals they have in mind, the New York Board of Regents cites a 400 percent increase in complaints against teachers from 2001 to 2007, with 75 percent of actions against certified teachers involving sex. There is currently a backlog of 800 allegations, and eight investigators, attorneys and support staff to investigate the complaints.
In all, 485 misconduct cases were reported over five years, most of them involving sexual misconduct.
The Board of Regents also wants faster way to suspend then revoke licenses of a teacher or administrator convicted of a sex offense.
The push for change is bi-partisan but not always clearly articulated.
""There's definitely going to be movement on the legislative side," said Manny Rivera, deputy secretary for education to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer. "We know the Board of Regents wants to advance a statute which calls for the automatic suspension of educators convicted of sex crimes. We're supportive of that and we'll work with them."
TT - Why not automatic revocation? If they're convicted, they will not be in the classroom anyway. They will be either in jail, on probation, or unemployed, provided, of course, that a school district could fire a teacher for conviction of a sex crime. And if a district can't fire a teacher for a sex crime conviction, shouldn't that be first priority?
There is no mention of transparency. New York state licenses 31 professions, including doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists, psychologists, lawyers, architects, pharmacists, etc. They list the disciplinary actions for every one of those professions online. If you want to know what disciplinary action has been taken against, or is being considered against, an educator, you have to file a freedom of information request. (See #6)
Also missing from the proposals is a national teacher registry. Currently, states are supposed to be reporting professional teacher discipline actions to NASDTEC (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification) to be included in a database to be shared among the member states. The "clearinghouse" includes reported discipline actions from all 50 states, Guam, New Zealand and Ontario (Canada.)
New York State has reported a total of 897 discipline actions. That's for the period from 1980 to February 2007. During the same time frame, South Carolina, with a student population one-quarter of that of New York, reported 896 dicipline actions against educations. (California reported 5,997 educators during the same period.)
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, "National database of problem teachers is flawed", Dec 17, 2007. TT entry.
Every parent and taxpayer would applaud efforts to reduce teacher misconduct that involved sex with students. But not by legislators or education bureaucrats who have made it their business for decades to shield those who sexually exploit children because teachers unions are major contributors, teachers and educrats vote, and protecting the education establishment is more important than the safety of children entrusted to their care.
Be honest: their first priority in "reform" will be to make certain YOU won't know anything more than you know today.
Count on it.
