10 states target teacher abuse

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ten states, including Ohio, have taken action in recent months to crack down on sexually abusive teachers after a stream of arrests and reports that have documented the problem of educators victimizing students.

Governors, state education officials and lawmakers have led the push for new measures, which include tougher penalties for teachers who abuse students, punishment for administrators who fail to properly oversee their faculty, and an effort to train an entire state’s corps of teachers to recognize potential abusers in their midst.

They are focusing on an increasingly undeniable phenomenon: Though the vast majority of America’s roughly 3 million public school teachers are committed professionals, a disturbing number have engaged in sexual misconduct.

A nationwide Associated Press investigation, published in October, found 2,570 educators lost their teaching credentials or were otherwise sanctioned from 2001 through 2005 after allegations of sexual misconduct.

The AP series inspired some of the tougher measures, including Utah’s legislation to permanently revoke the licenses of sexually abusive teachers and a new Maine law to share information about teachers disciplined for any reason, including sexual misconduct, with other states.

Stories on teacher misconduct by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and The Columbus Dispatch sparked action in Florida and Ohio.

New laws also were passed in Kentucky, Kansas, Minnesota and Virginia, while measures are still being considered in California, Colorado, Delaware and Massachusetts. New York and South Carolina began or expanded programs targeting the problem.