Teacher sex crimes

August 19, 2007 - Excellent article by Greg Tufaro in the Home News Tribune (NJ) on "Districts hit by educator sex crimes." Nine Middlesex County teachers or coaches have been charged with or sentenced for educator sexual misconduct within the last year.

REPORTED: "None of the Middlesex County educators charged within the last year are currently teaching; all who were sentenced have surrendered their teaching certificates. "

REPORTED: "At least 56 educators (teachers, substitutes and coaches) statewide were charged with or sentenced for educator sexual misconduct, or had their certificates suspended or revoked for such allegations, in the past two years. The figure is based upon a Home News Tribune review of media reports and New Jersey Department of Education records."

REPORTED: "During the 2006-07 academic year, the New Jersey Department of Education's Board of Examiners revoked 60 teaching certificates and suspended 10 more for conduct unbecoming. The previous academic year, 46 certificates were revoked and 15 were suspended."

REPORTED: "In instances in which a teacher voluntarily surrenders his or her certificate without yet being criminally convicted of sexual contact with a minor, the forfeiture is accepted in a form letter with the full effect of a revocation but without details, because the Board of Examiners is not permitted legally to discuss the allegation; it can only confirm the surrender."

Many cases are off the record because of negotiated settlements. ***

REPORTED: "A review of Board of Examiners decisions from September 2005 through June 2007 found that at least 34 teachers in the Garden State had their certificates revoked or suspended for alleged educator sexual misconduct. The crime accounted for at least 25.9 percent of all revocations and suspensions during that period."

The nine Middlesex County, NJ teachers listed in the article are:
Shawn Feeney, 31 - Sentenced to 4 years.
Karen Binder, 42 - case ongoing
Anthony Spinato, 25 - Sentenced to 7 years
Amy Burke, 32 - Sentenced to 4 years** (Info from this site)
Jim Kazanjian, 51 - to be sentenced August 23
Bruce Nealous, 46 - No charges filed yet
Kevin Burns, 24 - to be sentenced October 26
Michael Petak, 31 - Sentenced to probation for witness tampering
Claude Thouret, 26 - Unknown to us
(Links are to TT entries)

*** TT - Next, we hope they will examine those negotiated settlements that keep criminal charges out of the public record.

A negotiated settlement that allows the teacher or administrator to quietly surrender their license without public knowledge of the reasons may well be motivated more by the need to avoid public admission of liability than any contractual necessity. They certainly need to be examined by an outsider.