AP series investigates sexual abuse in nation's schools
The Associated Press put together a three-day series of articles about sex abuse in schools. We could only run part of it in print, but we'll post all of the report online.
Find day one's main story here.
Here's some of a second story that details flaws in California's laws that allow offenders to continue to work with children:
While some of the most egregious sex abuse is flagged, state law allows many offenses to remain confidential in education records, even when teachers go to prison and register as sex offenders.The lack of information reflects a system for disciplining teachers that, across the country, is often shrouded in secrecy. That makes it difficult for states to share valuable information about deviant teachers and allows some to find jobs in the classroom again.
In California alone, The Associated Press reviewed more than 2,000 cases in which teachers were punished and confirmed that 313 of those were for sexual misconduct.
Hundreds of cases were classified as "general misconduct," requiring further AP research to determine the nature of the offense. The number of cases in California was so large that not all of them could be fully investigated, meaning the state undoubtedly had far more than 313 sexual misconduct cases during the five-year span.
Here's a link to the rest.