Bill to Combat Sexual Abuse of Students Wins Senate Approval

The Missouri Senate has passed legislation which would help keep teachers out of the classroom who have engaged in sexual misconduct with students. The proposal, sponsored by Senator Jane Cunningham of Chesterfield, was approved by the Senate on a unanimous vote of 34-0. The bill seeks to deal with a pernicious pattern in the public school system. A teacher or coach commits sexual abuse of a student and is released by the school district. The abuser then moves on to another school district which is unaware of the prior conduct because of employee confidentiality stipulations and agreements. The teacher or coach then engages in sexual misconduct again. This scenario is often referred to as "pass the trash." Under the provisions of the bill, any school district employee who shares information about a former employee with another school district will be immune from any civil action in court seeking damages. Any school district which failed to disclose information concerning sexual misconduct by a former employee in discussions with another school district would be liable for damages. The bill also requires that a school district suspend any employee who has been the subject of a child abuse investigation where the state's Division of Children's Services has substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct. School officials who receive allegations from a student of sexual misconduct must report that information to state child abuse authorities within 24 hours. All applicants for a state teaching certificate would be required to undergo a criminal background check. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will also be required to conduct an annual check of teachers with active certificates against criminal history records, the sexual offender registry, and the child abuse registry. A state audit conducted by State Auditor Susan Montee in 2007 found that students were at risk because of inadequate background checks. The Senate amended Cunningham's bill to include another child protection measure sponsored by Senator Ryan McKenna of Crystal City. Known as "Erin's Law," the proposal calls for the development of a curriculum in the public schools to discourage incidents of sexual abuse. Senator Cunningham has been working valiantly for several years to address the horrendous problem of sexual predators in the educational system. "Missouri statutes prohibit sexual offenders from being within 1000 feet of our schools, yet we allow them right inside our classrooms," Cunningham observes. Senator Cunningham's bill is named "The Amy Hestir Student Protection Act." Amy Hestir is a Missouri woman who was repeatedly molested and assaulted by her junior high school teacher during her youth. The perpetrator went on to teach in other Missouri school districts.