Education board offers teacher-discipline rules

Teachers charged with
violent offenses would be removed from the
classroom.

COLUMBUS (AP) — The State Board of Education voted Tuesday to require the education department to publicly release the reason any teacher is disciplined and to create a policy for the automatic revocation of teacher licenses for convictions of serious crimes.

The policies were among nine recommendations that would tighten a teacher-discipline system that was often shrouded in secrecy.

The Ohio Department of Education will now take the recommendations to the Legislature, where they must be accepted before becoming law.

The board also voted to run the names of those on arrest lists against a database of licensed educators. The matching system is already set up for school bus drivers.

Districts would be required to remove teachers from the classroom if they are arrested for offenses such as murder, kidnapping or rape. Teachers who are arrested or convicted would be required to notify their employer or face penalties.

Also among the proposals is that the department make public the reason a teacher is disciplined even when it’s based on a sealed conviction. Currently, if the department punishes a teacher based on an expunged conviction, the reason must be kept secret.

The Ohio Education Association, one of the state’s teachers unions, said it was still reviewing the proposals and had some initial concerns.

“We want to maximize student safety while balancing the due process rights of educators,” said Michele Prater, spokeswoman for the association.

The proposals by the board are in addition to legislation approved by Ohio lawmakers last week that require the department to create a code of conduct for educators and to provide specific punishments for certain types of wrongdoing. The bill has been sent to the governor’s desk and needs his signature before becoming law.

“I think we need to express our appreciation to the legislature for following through on the changes made so far. I’m pleased that ... we’re able to further tighten the laws as they exist,” said Jane Sonenshein, an elected board member from Loveland.

Lawmakers demanded reform after The Columbus Dispatch ran a series of stories that found that educators with histories of fondling students, exposing themselves in public and hiring prostitutes were allowed to keep teaching.