Passing the trash

Passing the trash doesnt have anything to do with a garbage  pickup. Its the practice that school officials, teachers and  administrators whisper about among themselves when school districts  routinely move a teacher or administrator accused of sexual misconduct  to another school, file no charges against the accused, make no public  disclosure about the charges, and even make a financial settlement with  the accused if they move on. Invariably, the offending teachers are  dumped in the poorest of the poor mostly black and Latino inner city  schools.
The practice of shuffling sexually tainted teachers and  administrators is a dirty secret and a national disgrace. Yet dozens of  school districts engage in the practice. Hundreds of teachers accused of  or that are guilty of sexual abuse of students have skipped away scot  free or with minimal disciplinary action. This practice has left  countless student victims and their parents in emotional rage and  turmoil. The practice recently bit the Los Angeles Unified School  District hard when Steven Rooney an administrator was charged with the  sexual molestation of a 13 year old middle school student.
The Rooney  case was a textbook example of the all too prevalent wink and nod of  many school districts toward sexual abuse. Rooney was under  investigation for a prior suspected sexual offense against a teen  student, yet was shuffled around to several South Los Angeles inner city  schools. Finally he was dumped at Markham Middle School in the heart of  Los Angeless Watts district. There was no public disclosure that  Rooney might be a problem. Rooneys arrest brought howls of rage and  protest from dozens of parents. Embarrassed school officials scrambled  fast and offered profuse apologies, promised to set up a task force and  conduct a rigorous investigation.
The problem though is that the  Rooney case may be just the tip of the iceberg. The great likelihood is  that there are other teachers and administrators that have committed  acts of sexual abuse within the LAUSD and parents, students, and even  teachers and administrators may be totally in the dark about them. And  its not just the Los Angeles school district.
Education researchers  estimate that fifteen percent of the nations 50 million school  children could be the victims of sexual abuse. The sexual abuse involves  not just inappropriate physical contact between teachers and students  but involve sending emails, text messages, and digital photos, as well  as My Space postings, seductive notes, and even anonymous gifts.  A  majority of the cases go unreported out of fear, shame, embarrassment,  and reluctance on the part of some teachers and administrators to blow  the whistle on their co-workers. Some districts dread the prospect of  costly liability suits and settlements, and the adverse publicity from  sexual abuse cases.
Even when abuse is documented or strongly  suspected, the discipline is often spotty, inconsistent and arbitrary.  From 2001 to 2005, states suspended or revoked the licenses of more than  2500 teachers and administrators guilty of sexual misconduct. A handful  such as Rooney was jailed.  In far too many other cases, the offending  teachers and administrators were transferred within the district, or got  jobs with other school districts, and were given glowing  recommendations. There was no known public disclosure in most of these  cases. There is no federal law that bars teachers accused of sexual  malfeasance from moving from one school district to another.
The  school districts where the sexually suspect teachers resurface did not  know that they were ticking sexual time bombs. Some states have moved  aggressively to get a better handle on teacher and administrator sexual  abuse. They mandate fingerprinting, criminal background checks, and the  automatic revocation of a teachers license for conviction of sexual  molestation. Many other states have done little to crack down on school  sex cases.
There are still more gargantuan loopholes in the laws.  The FBIs background checks disclose felony convictions only. In many  teacher sexual cases, the charges are reduced to misdemeanors. And  sexual accusations are reported to police and child welfare authorities  only when there is sufficient proof of abuse. Since much of the abuse is  through the internet, in secret, and the victim is threatened there is  no smoking gun proof of abuse. This insures that thousands of sexual  abuse cases slip through the cracks. Thats what happened in the Rooney  case.
The LAUSD, as other districts, were not simply clueless. They  are hamstrung by their own vague and lax provisions in dealing with  suspected or actual sexual abuse. The LAUSD, for instance, conducts  investigations into suspected abuse only after a criminal investigation  is completed. There is no mandatory transfer of teachers and  administrators under a sexual abuse cloud to non-classroom assignments  during the district investigation. There is no mandatory public  disclosure of the results of investigations in sex cases involving  teachers and administrators. There is no determination whether teachers  and administrators in sexual abuse cases are disproportionately dumped  at the worst performing South Los Angeles schools. These loopholes  scream for closure.
In a 2007 national survey, the Associated Press  found that sex cases were on the rise in many states. California was at  or near the top of the list. The Rooney case and others like it show  why teacher and administrator sexual abuse remains the nations dirty  secret.
– The Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable will host a  community discussion on Sexual Predators and LAUSD Classrooms:  The  Steven Rooney Case May Be The tip of Tipberg. Parents, teachers and  adminstrators are urged to come forth and discuss the issue. Saturday,  March 22, 2008, 10 – 11 a.m.,  Lucy Florence Coffeehouse, 3351 W. 43rd  St., Leimert Park.