A Solution?

Perhaps West Virginia has come up with a solution to teachers who abuse students. The West Virginia Consolidated Public Retirement Board has gone to court to terminate the pensions of Danny Perkins, a school employee, who "pled guilty to two counts of sexual assault in the third degree, two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian and one count of displaying obscene materials to a juvenile." He isn't the only one. They have filed suits against three other public employees.

It seems to me that a pension involves as much trust as does the social contract between a teacher and a parent who relies upon the teacher's decency. Police officers have long been subject to loss of pension benefits for misdeeds on the job. Since public shame doesn't work because the media doesn't care much about the issue, and the thought of imprisonment doesn't seem to deter teachers much, maybe the loss of pensions might cause second thoughts.