Registered sex offenders work as U.S. school teachers and administrators despite laws barring them from contact with children, a U.S. government report says.
School officials in some states enable misconduct to continue by disregarding procedures and warning signs during hiring or by covering up firings of sexual offenders, the U.S. Government Accountability Office report said.
The report, obtained by USA Today, is based on a review of 15 cases in 11 states over the past decade involving people with histories of sexual misconduct working in public or private schools.
Of those, 11 offenders previously targeted children -- and six continued to abuse children in their new positions, the report indicated.
For example, a teacher and athletic coach forced to resign from an Ohio school because of inappropriate contact with girls was hired by a neighboring district, the report said.
The superintendent at his first school had called him an "outstanding teacher" in a recommendation letter, the report indicated.
The teacher was later convicted for sexual battery against a sixth-grade girl in the new district.
When questioned by investigators about why such lapses occur, officials usually said the time and money involved in background checks made it hard to monitor job applicants. Fear of lawsuits also was a factor, the report said.
Thank you, Captain Obvious! Of course, they’re afraid of lawsuits. That’s why they keep the real reason why they were fired quiet. They don’t want the parents to sue. However, they could be doubly liable for the harm the teachers caused those children. They have to worry about the kids from their school and the kids from the new school that were abused because of their failure to come forth with information that could have saved them from these predators.
Every one of these school officials should be immediately fired and blacklisted from ever being able to have anything to do with the school system ever.
Sex offenders are not forbidden to be around children once off probation. You are confusing sexual PREDATORS, who should be behind bars for good, with registered sex offenders. There is most certainly a difference. Many made a mistake once in their life years and years ago and live as normal a life as everyone else, have families, kids, jobs, and bills to pay. This article sounds like the author wishes he could go back to Salem and hunt witches.
ReplyDeleteWe're not just talking about being around them in general. This is about people who are going to be with the kids ~8hrs a day, 5 days a wk. They are going to be in a position of authority over them. The kids will be very trusting of these people.
ReplyDeleteDo you really want someone who has been convicted of a sex crime, especially one against a child, teaching your child? I hope not, for your children's sake. Eleven out of the fifteen cases above were involving abused children. Six of those were caught sexually abusing kids in the new schools. Why take the chance?
There could be some sort of way that they can be allowed to depending on the nature of the offense. For example, if a 18 year old was arrested for statutory rape of the 16 year old that the offender eventually married, that might be excusable.
The main problem with this is that the districts that fired the sex offenders never told the district that hired them next about the his bad conduct. They pretended as if nothing was wrong. Even if they were caught doing such acts to the kids that they were hired to teach, they were still hired by other districts within months of being fired because of the previous districts omission of the facts behind their release.
Also, how well do they run background checks on potential teacher, if they can't even find out that they're registered sex offenders? I mean come on! The districts had no clue.
I'm not saying that they can't live a normal life, after getting out of jail. I don't want to burn them at the stake. I just don't want them in jobs that have them around our children all the time, and most everyone else in this country agrees with me on this.