Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington. File photo by Morgan True/VTDigger
Sen. Dick Sears D-Bennington, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, explained that an article by the Spotlight team exposed gaps in current laws across New England that allow teachers charged with sex crimes to move from one school district to another.
“Why are we here? We are here because quite frankly of good reporting,” Sears said.
In December, the Boston Globe found that more than 110 private schools in the region have faced sexual misconduct allegations — affecting more than 300 students — over the past 25 years. In more than two dozen the cases, the educators were able to get jobs at new schools, according to the report.
Sears said he found it alarming that teachers charged with sexual misconduct could move from one school to another. The schools sign confidentiality agreements, “they won’t tell anybody about the allegations and the teacher leaves and then goes onto work at a different state,” he said. The practice is a particular problem at private schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, according to the Globe report.
Sears wants to consider banning confidentiality agreements that allow school administrators to pass bad actors from one district to another.
While the focus of the report was on private schools, the problem also exists in public schools and the perpetrators often aren’t fired even when there is enough evidence, according to the Boston Globe.
In Burlington, Jay Hoffman, a technology teacher, who had been honored as Vermont’s teacher of the year award in 2013, was placed on paid leave in 2015 after a middle school girl complained of inappropriate touching. The school district attempted to fire Hoffman but the arbitrator rejected the move. He was reinstated for two days when another student came forward. This time the arbitrator held up the school board’s decision to fire Hoffman, but five months later, he still has a license to teach, according to a report in the Bennington Banner.
Sears also wants to look at ending any statute of limitations on sexual abuse of children and he wants to make sure background checks are the same for both private and public school employees.
After hearing from witnesses, Sears said he wanted to consider changing the age of consent. Under current state law, a 16-year-old student can be in a sexual relationship with a teacher.
John Treadwell, assistant attorney general, said there could be a loophole in regards to lewd and lascivious behavior. “I would be happy to work with the legislative council to expand that part of the definition to ensure that all sexual misconduct would fall within the statute.”
Pietro Lynn, an attorney who works with the Vermont School Board Association, said that it is illegal in Vermont to keep information about a teacher or an employee’s misconduct confidential if they move from one system to another.
Lawmakers also heard from the Department of Children and Families and the Agency of Education about the handling of complaints.
Clare O’Shaughnessy, an attorney for the Agency of Education, said that reports of educator misconduct are confidential unless there is a public reprimand or a formal charge against an educator.
O’Shaughnessy said the agency’s regulation of unlicensed private school teachers, coaches and paraeducators is limited.
“We may get reports (of abuse) but they are not licensed and our ability to regulate that conduct is limited,” she said.
Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington, is on the South Burlington school board. He said in the Hoffman case, the different levels of proof needed by the school board, DCF, AOE and law enforcement may have contributed to the relicensure of Hoffman.
“There are different levels of scrutiny on what happened. There could be disagreement between the school board and what we found and decided and what AOE, DCF and law enforcement decided.”
LaLonde asked, if a school board decides a teacher’s conduct is inappropriate, shouldn’t that be enough for the AOE to revoke a license? “If we can’t permit it in our classroom, it would seem to me that if it reached that level that should be taken into account by AOE when making the licensing decision,” LaLonde said.
He added that extending the laws to include grooming might capture such behavior in the future.
Sears ended the hearing by promising more action. “If there are loopholes we want to them closed. I know there is going to be some drafting done.”
Other recent cases of educator misconduct include:
Shaun Bryer, a Morristown Elementary and People’s Academy Middle School teacher, molested two boys that he met at school. The abuse took place over four years in his apartment. It started with viewing of pornography and moved onto sexual acts. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2011.
Julianne Graham, a Burlington teacher was charged with sexual exploitation of a high school student at Champlain Valley Union High School in 2015.
Valerie Gilmore, a cafeteria worker at the Lyndon Institute, was accused of having sex with two underage students off campus when school was out.
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