USA Today Network Study: Despite background checks, troubled teachers slip past system

Report: Tennessee flunks teacher background checks

Tennessee received a failing grade when it comes to conducting background checks on teachers. A scathing report released by USA Today found more than 14,000 cases in the U.S. in which a teacher permanently lost their license, but still managed to get a teaching job in another state. “This is pretty surprising. Very shocking,” said parent Sarah Hipp. The study looked at all 50 states. Some had worse report cards than others. Tennessee received an “F.” Here is a look at the overall report: Tennessee got an “F” for background checks, a "C" in transparency, an "A" in following mandatory ...

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http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/31238781/report-tennessee-flunks-teacher-background-checks

 

Report: Tennessee flunks teacher background checks

Tennessee received a failing grade when it comes to conducting background checks on teachers. A scathing report released by USA Today found more than 14,000 cases in the U.S. in which a teacher permanently lost their license, but still managed to get a teaching job in another state. “This is pretty surprising. Very shocking,” said parent Sarah Hipp. The study looked at all 50 states. Some had worse report cards than others. Tennessee received an “F.” Here is a look at the overall report: Tennessee got an “F” for background checks, a "C" in transparency, an "A" in following mandatory ...

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http://www.wsmv.com/story/31238781/report-tennessee-flunks-teacher-background-checks

 

'We dropped the ball': State admits errors in reporting teacher discipline

The agency in charge of overseeing Texas public education has admitted errors in reporting teacher discipline after a joint investigation by the KENS 5 I-Team and USA Today revealed it repeatedly failed to enter sanctions into a national database. The omissions included three San Antonio educators and were the result of "human error," according to the Texas Education Agency. "We certainly regret that those three educators were not entered into NASDTEC," spokeswoman Lauren Callahan said. The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) is a national clearinghouse that tracks sanctions taken against educators' licenses.

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http://www.kens5.com/story/news/inv...errors-reporting-teacher-discipline/80421764/

 

Lt. Gov.: Teacher screening legislation expected

State elected and education officials are anticipating legislation to bolster North Carolina’s lackluster teacher screening system, one that has allowed teachers with troubled backgrounds to work in Tar Heel classrooms. Following investigations into the screening system by the Citizen-Times and the USA TODAY NETWORK, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest said his office is examining documents and past legislation and expects new policy to be put before lawmakers in the upcoming short session. “We’re going to be sharing that with folks at (the Department of Public Instruction) and the legislature to get this process going long before we get to ...

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http://www.citizen-times.com/story/...cher-screening-legislation-expected/80499200/

 

Fix teacher background checks: Our view

You’d think that teachers would undergo the most rigorous background checks of just about any profession. But you’d be wrong. The system, run by states and local school districts, is a patchwork of inconsistent and often porous processes that have allowed thousands of teachers with misconduct records — including 1,400 whose licenses had been revoked — to fall through the cracks, and sometimes right into another classroom. Many disciplined teachers have discovered that getting back into a classroom is as easy as moving to another state, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation found. The year-long probe, led by reporter Steve Reilly, ...

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...hecks-misconduct-editorials-debates/80582188/

 

Teacher won back license after facing sex-abuse claims

A teacher who successfully fought a state order and had his teaching license recently reinstated was allowed to walk away from sex abuse allegations at a Tennessee high school 20 years ago, according to records The Tennesseanobtained. He then went on to teach and coach in three more districts before being fired in 2003 for striking a student. But his teaching license was revoked only after similar sexual abuse allegations were made against him in 2005 while working in another state. In a recent successful plea to have his Tennessee teaching license reinstated after the Tennessee State Board of Education ...

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http://www.12newsnow.com/story/31302428/teacher-won-back-license-after-facing-sex-abuse-claims

 

Educators do little time for sex crimes

Wisconsin educators convicted of inappropriate relationships or abuse of students often plead down from more serious charges and rarely serve more than a year in prison, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation has found. Three recent cases near Fond du Lac, Green Bay and Milwaukee illustrate how plea deals lead to lesser penalties. Several more cases of teacher misconduct involving sexual allegations over the last decade show a similar trend, based on a database of all Wisconsin teachers whose licenses were revoked. The findings are part of USA TODAY NETWORK's ongoing nationwide investigation of how states handle teacher misconduct. Legal officials ...

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http://www.9news.com/news/nation-now/educators-do-little-time-for-sex-crimes/56202575

 

Indiana's teacher background checks system lacks safeguards

Six dead pit bulls in plastic bags. Bloody collars. Photographs of dogs strapped down and being forced to breed. Sixteen neglected dogs that were still alive. This was just some of the evidence that Lake County Police investigators found when they went to the Calumet Township home of Carlton Davis Jr. in May 2006. "It's just inconceivable that someone could be so inhumane," said then-Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez. But just four years later, Davis applied for — and was granted — a substitute teacher's license in 2013 by the Indiana Department of Education, after having been convicted on dog-fighting ...

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...ckground-problems-st-0228-20160228-story.html

 

Teacher records hidden behind government secrecy

A West Central band teacher resigned from his previous job after he was reprimanded for committing an act of “moral turpitude or gross immorality." That's all the information available to parents; additional details are kept secret by the state and school officials. Daniel Eye was working in Parkston public schools in 2008 when a complaint was filed with the state’s ethics commission for teachers. There is no public record of the incident on the state’s online teacher database, though Eye disclosed it when he applied, said Jeff Danielsen, West Central superintendent. “Mr. Eye was very open with us about the ...

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http://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...ds-hidden-behind-government-secrecy/80995434/

 

Lack of online database for teacher discipline in Missouri makes finding answers difficult

Former Springfield school employee Craig Wood has been sitting in jail for nearly two years, awaiting trial on charges he kidnapped, raped and murdered a young girl. But check his name in the public portion of the state's licensing database and the only indication that he'd be a bad hire is that his certification has expired. Wood, who faces the death penalty if convicted, is unlikely to ever enter a classroom again. Few other Missouri educators have been charged with such serious crimes. But in the past three decades, hundreds have been disciplined and lost their licenses through revocation or ...

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http://www.news-leader.com/story/ne...uri-makes-finding-answers-difficult/80852552/

 

Teacher records hidden behind government secrecy

A West Central band teacher resigned from his previous job after he was reprimanded for committing an act of "moral turpitude or gross immorality." That's all the information available to parents; additional details are kept secret by the state and school officials, the Argus Leader (http://argusne.ws/1QGxRot ) reported. Daniel Eye was working in Parkston public schools in 2008 when a complaint was filed with the state's ethics commission for teachers. There is no public record of the incident on the state's online teacher database, though Eye disclosed it when he applied, said Jeff Danielsen, West Central superintendent. "Mr. Eye was ...

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http://tucson.com/ap/state/teacher-...cle_e6761ac0-518f-5d50-a740-ac59531ac36a.html

 

Teacher records hidden behind government secrecy

A West Central band teacher resigned from his previous job after he was reprimanded for committing an act of "moral turpitude or gross immorality." That's all the information available to parents; additional details are kept secret by the state and school officials, the Argus Leader reported. Daniel Eye was working in Parkston public schools in 2008 when a complaint was filed with the state's ethics commission for teachers. There is no public record of the incident on the state's online teacher database, though Eye disclosed it when he applied, said Jeff Danielsen, West Central superintendent. "Mr. Eye was very open ...

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http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/st...cle_f8b76904-249a-56ab-bf6a-cb8edc3a20d2.html