[Salvation]

Too often, problem teachers are allowed to leave quietly. That can mean future abuse for another student and another school district.

“They might deal with it internally, suspending the person or having the person move on. So their license is never investigated,” says Charol Shakeshaft, a leading expert in teacher sex abuse who heads the educational leadership department at Virginia Commonwealth University.

It’s a dynamic so common it has its own nicknames—“passing the trash” or the “mobile molester.”

Laws in several states require that even an allegation of sexual misconduct be reported to the state departments that oversee teacher licenses. But there’s no consistent enforcement, so such laws are easy to ignore.

School officials fear public embarrassment as much as the perpetrators do, Shakeshaft says. They want to avoid the fallout from going up against a popular teacher. They also don’t want to get sued by teachers or victims, and they don’t want to face a challenge from a strong union.

[Keith in Iowa]

1 abused kid is one too many, and I don’t care who’s doing it. The perps need to rot in prison. Along with anyone that aids and abets cover-ups.

[RobbyS]

As a former teacher—and local union leader—I agree that this is the way it was done. I also say that most of the time the teachers were not guilty. Hard to believe that a young boy or girl can seduce an adult, but if the adult is as dumb as a stick/naive this does happen.