VA TAKES NEW STEP TO FIGHT TEACHER SEX MISCONDUCT
Patrick Wilson, Virginian Pilot
September 13, 2012
To ensure that teachers lose their licenses if they have been found to have engaged in sexual misconduct, the Virginia Department of Education has hired a specialist to follow up.
State education officials say that although background checks can stop a convicted teacher from getting a job in another division, some instructors have retained their licenses because they resigned before cases went to court.
Nancy Walsh has been hired to follow up on cases of teacher sexual misconduct, said Patty Pitts, a state assistant superintendent.
Walsh’s salary of $67,000 is paid for by fees that teachers pay for licenses and license renewals, said Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the department.
Walsh will work closely with school divisions, which were required by a law passed in 2008 to report teacher misconduct to the Board of Education.
That year, state officials reported they had found dozens of instructors who were convicted of sex crimes but whose licenses were not revoked.
The state can initiate the process for revoking a teacher’s license without a referral from a local division.
State law also requires court clerks to notify the Board of Education about teacher misconduct cases.
Since January 2010, the Board of Education has revoked or canceled licenses for 40 teachers involved in sexual misconduct with students or minors, Pyle said.
Among them, records show, are two former Portsmouth teachers convicted this year.
Cedric Cradle was found guilty of taking indecent liberties with a 16-year-old student at Churchland High.
Marc Allmond, a former teacher at Norcom High, was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a female student.
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