Column: What's right for the kids

Last week's statement by the Benton Community School District presents a perfect case study in how school districts should not deal with cases of teacher sexual misconduct.

Not to distract from the big picture here - the fact that Iowa law allows school districts to shuffle problematic, potentially predatory, teachers out the door without a word of warning to parents, to law enforcement or to the state licensing board.

But the district's statement shows just how much latitude school officials now have to make decisions that fly in the face of what is right for our kids.

In the two weeks I've been writing about the Benton Community teacher resignation scandal, Superintendent Gary Zittergruen has declined to say much about the matter.

But on Friday, the district's Website sported a long statement awfully short on details - including who authored it.

It referred to a “personnel matter” concerning an employee's “inappropriate comments and discussions with students in the district” that “the district” felt “warranted his termination”.

“At the time, the district did consider filing a complaint with the Board of Educational Examiners against the employee, however the employee had not engaged in any conduct that would have legally required the district to file a complaint,” the statement read.

In fact, legal counsel advised the district not to report because it would have required them to disclose the names of students involved.

Disclose to whom? It doesn't say. But the fact is, Board of Educational Examiners' investigations are private. That's something the statement's anonymous author apparently knows, because they use it as an excuse further down in the statement to avoid saying much else about how the district handled the investigation.

No word about why they didn't report the incident to law enforcement, about how (or if) they notified parents about the teachers' misconduct or otherwise acted to protect students.

I talked to superintendents of several area school districts last week about how their districts handle similar investigations. You can read more of what they and Benton County Attorney David Thompson had to say on my blog.

None seemed so reluctant to involve law enforcement or the state licensing board.

As Vinton-Shellsburg Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock told me: “The number one priority is making sure that we do things keeping kids safety in mind.”

It ought to be a no-brainer for any school official: Do what's right, not just what's required.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com