Passing The Trash

Once in a while there is a story in the paper that not only makes me cringe but touches my sense of justice in a way that it makes me extremely angry.

This morning's paper had one of those stories. It was about teachers accused of sexually abusing their students then signing confidentiality agreements with their school district that requires the teachers to resign from the district but also requires the school district not to make public any charges against the teacher or go after the teacher's license. The teacher can go to another district or state and still teach. The procedure is called "Passing The Trash."

While the article focused mostly on Oregon it mentioned that "Passing The Trash" was common throughout the country. California's problems with the secret agreements led the state Supreme Court to rule that districts that sign such pacts can be sued. In 1997, the California court ruled that a student sexually molested by a middle school vice principal in the Livingston Union School District could sue the three previous school districts that employed the vice principal for fraud and negilgence. Mary Jo McGrath, a school law attorney and sexual abuse expert in Santa Barbara, California was quoted in the article as saying "The secret deals are one of the main things that keep the wheels greased on the machinery that keeps passing around the molesters."

Let me be clear on this, I love and respect teachers. Ninety-nine per cent of teachers are underappreciated, underpaid, hard working folks that have their students' interests at heart. It is that one percent that make it hard for the good ones to gain the respect they deserve. The number of teachers that have complaints filed against them is a just a fraction of the total number of teachers but they get the publicity.

The lead story in the article is about Kenneth Cushing. He was accused of clutching the students' waists, touching their buttocks, and massaging their shoulders. To get him away from the school district he was working in and the eight middle school girls he was accused of touching would take months. To get him out of the district immediately the school district signed an agreement with him. If he would resign immediately they would attribute his departure to "personal reasons" and make no reference to the agreement. Even though Cushing eventually had his license revoked by the Oregon State Teacher Standards and Practice Commission he went on to teach at a charter school in Arizona and a private all boys school in New Hampshire.

During the past five years NEARLY HALF of Oregon teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct with a child left the school district with confidentiality agreements. Some were promised health insurance, cash settlements, AND letters of recommendations as incentives for resigning.

The Oregonian, through public records requests, uncovered two confidential agreements in which the state commission on teacher responsibility agreed not to discipline the accused teachers if they agreed not to teach in Oregon. One of the agreements was with an elementary school teacher who befriended a fourth grader in his class. When the girl turned 16 and the teacher was 32 he started having sex with her. The teacher was charged with nineteen counts of sexual abuse. A judge acquitted him of all charges. He admitted to having sex with the girl but only after she turned 18. He signed an agreement not to teach in Oregon. He appeared again as a teacher in Montana.

Not outraged enough? A music teacher surrendered his license in 1997 after admitting to soliciting sex from a student. He was ordered to get counseling. After the counseling his license was reinstated two years later and he is now teaching in three schools.

I feel dirty, time for me to go take a shower.

Read the entire article at http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/02/schools_cut_secret_deals_with.html