DENVER — Concerned over reports of public school teachers involved in unlawful behavior with students, including sexual misconduct, state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require school districts to report teacher violations to the state within 24 hours.
It also would strip school boards and the state Board of Education of immunity from lawsuits if they fail to do hiring background checks for teachers.
From 2001 through 2005, the Colorado Department of Education suspended, denied or revoked licenses for 151 teachers. Fifty-one of those cases involved sexual misconduct, according to an analysis of Colorado records by The Associated Press last year that formed part of a national project on teacher sex abuse.
The bill, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Gwyn Green, D-Golden, would give the state Department of Education 24 hours to do a complete background check on teacher applicants and require school districts to report any teacher who is dismissed or who resigns as a result of unlawful behavior involving a child if it is supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
If the board or school district fails to do a hiring background check, a parent of a child victim could sue.
Lance Clem, spokesman for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which conducts the background checks, said a check of state records could be done quickly, but he said it would be tough to meet the 24-hour requirement because it takes up to two weeks to do the national background check required under current law.
Currently, results of background checks are not required before a credential is issued. The system depends a lot on applicants themselves disclosing previous convictions.
Green said teachers involved in cases of alleged sexual misconduct should be forced to go through a license revocation hearing to determine the facts, and parents should be told the outcome, especially if a teacher is being returned to the classroom by the Board of Education.
“I think it’s outrageous that there are any settlement agreements at all,” she said.
Board spokesman Mark Stevens said until state laws are changed, the board must operate under current law that requires board action on teacher settlements to remain confidential unless the teacher signs a settlement agreement.
“Unfortunately, that’s the situation we’re in,” he said.
The latest cases involving allegations of sexual misconduct against teachers were heard by the seven-member Board of Education on Feb. 14, when the board reviewed proposed settlements for three teachers, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Two teachers signed settlement agreements, but the board refused to say what was decided on a third case, saying that was confidential.
Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said he was outraged that the board refused to say what happened in the third case. Gardner said when he requested documents on teacher settlement agreements, state officials inadvertently gave him documents showing that the recommendation in the third case was to “dismiss charges against a current public-school teacher who failed to disclose on his application a prior arrest in a different state for indecent exposure.” A board spokesman refused to say if the teacher was still employed or which school district was involved, saying that also was confidential.
Gardner said he will try to amend Green’s bill to require that allegations of unlawful sexual behavior be made public. Gardner said parents have a right to see settlement agreements because those teachers could go on to teach in private schools or universities in Colorado or teach in other states.
“We need to make it clear in state statutes that a settlement agreement will never let a teacher continue teaching. It’s sickening and unacceptable,” Gardner said.
Gardner said he also learned of a fourth case in which a teacher was allowed to expunge her record of child abuse in California and continue teaching. The Board of Education said that was a confidential document.
The settlement agreements made public showed that a teacher in the Northglenn-Thornton School District was allowed to surrender his license and avoid a revocation hearing if he agreed never to reapply to a public school in Colorado after admitting he had a personal relationship with an underage student assistant that resulted in a sexual relationship after she turned 18.
According to the settlement agreement, signed by Education Commissioner Dwight Jones, the teacher took the underage assistant to a hockey game and told her that “she was a young temptation and he felt like a dirty old man.” The settlement stipulated that no criminal charges were filed because the woman consented to have sex and was 18 when it occurred. But it noted that the board has an ethics code that bars “immoral conduct that affects the health, safety or welfare of children, conduct that offends the morals of the community, or conduct that sets an inappropriate example for children.” The Colorado Department of Education said the settlement agreement was “the most economical and expeditious manner possible” to resolve the case.
The second settlement agreement involved a woman who agreed to give up her teaching license after she was convicted of two counts of felony assault on a child.
Green’s bill (House Bill 1344) has been assigned to the House Education Committee but a hearing hasn’t been set yet.
——— Associated Press Writer Catherine Tsai contributed to this report.
