Close gap in law to protect kids

We are concerned so many local educators have been accused of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct involving students in the past few months.

But we are alarmed when we think of how many cases we still might not know of - might never know of - because of an escape route built right into Iowa law.

A recently revealed Benton Community School District case has shined a spotlight on that gap, and now it's time for legislators to close it.

When they reconvene next session, they should waste no time in strengthening requirements for districts to report to the state licensing board when educators are accused of sexual abuse of students and other important ethical violations.

The law now only requires schools to report to the state Board of Educational Examiners if a licensed educator is accused of one of a few types of criminal offense, or if that teacher is fired, resigns or is let go because of an investigator's good-faith belief that offense took place.

But educators, rightly, are held to much more stringent ethical standards than those law violations reflect. The State Department of Education definition includes a broad spectrum of inappropriate sexual behaviors involving students.

Even so, it's perfectly legal for a school district to quietly negotiate a teacher's resignation after internal investigations reveal sexual misconduct or other unethical behaviors - without notifying state licensers.

“Unless this person is charged with a crime, the Board of Educational Examiners doesn't find out about it,” state representative Royd Chambers, R-Sheldon, told us this week. “What we have is educators resigning, agreeing to give up their jobs in exchange for the district stopping the investigation.”

“You can have a person who's had inappropriate relationships with students leave one school and go to another school and no one knows what's going on,” he said.

Chambers, a high school history teacher, said he suspects it happens a lot more than the public would guess.

That's why he introduced a bill this past spring that would have broadened those reporting requirements - to try to prevent districts from passing along problematic, potentially predatory teachers to other schools.

Chambers' bill never made it out of committee - school lobbyists criticized it as being too broad.

But current reporting requirements are too narrow. Lawmakers must go back to the drawing board and draft changes that target this gap.

As Board of Educational Examiners Executive Director George Maurer told us this week: “If it's serious enough that a person is terminated and it is an ethics violation, the board should have the opportunity to review it.”

Exactly. We expect public school officials to support every reasonable effort to keep our children safe.