Area districts favor bill requiring schools to report teacher sex abuse

A bill that would hold school districts accountable for failing to notify the state and fellow school systems about teacher sexual abuse allegations involving students has the general support of administrators at some of Southeast Missouri's biggest school districts.

But one superintendent did voice concerns.

The Missouri Senate last week passed the measure, which requires that schools report allegations of child abuse to the state within 24 hours. Under the legislation approved Thursday, school districts also would have to inform other districts if a teacher was fired or forced to resign for sexually abusing a student.

In an attempt to stay up with the changing technology, teachers would be prohibited from communicating over the Internet with current or former students by means that aren't open to district administrators and the students' parents.

"On the surface of it, this looks like a very good bill that's good for kids and good for schools," said Kevin Dunn, superintendent of the Perry County School District in Perryville.

Jim Welker, superintendent of the Cape Girardeau School District, agreed.

"The important thing is we provide a safe environment for our students," he said.

But Welker is concerned that the 24-hour mandate wouldn't give a district much time to investigate accusations of abuse.

"Certainly if there is a report of sexual misconduct, we certainly would want to make sure we have an opportunity to investigate it," he said. "We would understand the need to report it, but there is a narrow window to do any kind of investigation."

The bill, known as the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act, is named for a Missouri student who claims as a teenager in the 1970s she was molested by her teacher, who, as of a few years ago, reportedly was teaching in Southeast Missouri.

Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-St. Louis, the bill's sponsor, said in Hestir's case, the teacher who is alleged to have abused her moved on to another school district, teaching until his retirement.

The senator first introduced the legislation after a 2007 Associated Press probe found 87 licensed teachers in Missouri lost credentials between 2001 and 2005 due to sexual misconduct with students.

Some of the educators were hired to teach at other Missouri schools because the districts that fired them failed to inform the new employer, the AP investigation found.

Area school administrators say their current district policies don't include notification clauses, but there are polices in place to handle sexual misconduct.

"It's something that would require immediate termination, or at least require them to be out of the classroom until we review it," said Rita Fisher, assistant superintendent of the Jackson School District.

The legislation requires abuse allegations to be investigated by the state, not by the schools.

Welker said districts need to be armed with information when they hire.

"If others are not willing to share that information, it makes it difficult for the hiring school district to know if they have problems," he said.

"School districts in the past have been reluctant to share that information, not knowing the legal repercussions."

Dunn said the bill would eliminate confidentiality agreements that prohibit districts from talking about reasons for terminations.

"This takes it out of the district's hands," he said. "'I say, 'This is something I have to divulge.' It keeps schools from getting hit with confidentiality suits."

The bill has the support of the Missouri State Teachers Association, because it includes the safeguard of a teacher's presumption of innocence.

MSTA opposed similar past legislation, which would have made educators disprove sexual abuse accusations, Mike Wood, a lobbyist for association told The Associated Press.

mkittle@semissourian.com

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