Mayor Bloomberg and other officials introduced legislation today that would give school districts greater power to fire teachers for sexual misconduct, which has become a high-profile problem in NYC schools. This year we've seen a seemingly incessant stream of reports of teachers' sexual misconduct, and now the city school districts to have the authority to fire pervy educators—because as it stands now, even the Schools Chancellor is bound by the decision of outside hearing officers.
In announcing the proposed legislation today, the city cited a number of instances in which a teacher kept his or her job despite sexual misconduct:
The Special Commissioner of Investigation (SCI) found one teacher inappropriately touched a number of female students’ buttocks, breasts, waists, stomachs and necks. The Department of Education filed charges to dismiss the individual - the second such attempt. However, the hearing officer determined that the individual hugged one student and hugged and tickled another on her waist, dismissing or withdrawing other all other charges. The hearing officer imposed only a 45-day paid suspension and then permitted the teacher to return to the classroom.
In another case, SCI found that an individual told a 17-year old student, “baby, when you turn 18 years old, you could come to my home and we can have a real party.” SCI also found that the individual showed a female student an image on his phone of a man and woman having sex. The Department of Education filed charges to fire the teacher. Though the hearing officer found that the teacher did call the student, “baby,” all other charges were dismissed and only a $1,500 fine imposed.
In still another case, SCI found an individual inappropriately touched several students and allowed them to sit on his lap, patted buttocks and hugged students. The Department of Education filed charges to dismiss the teacher, but the hearing officer only issued a formal reprimand and nothing more.
The New York City school system, which has 1.1 million-students and is the largest in the U.S., receives an average of 30 to 35 sexual misconduct allegations a year, a mayoral spokesperson tells Crain's. Under current teacher discipline law, outside hearing officers decide on these cases and impose binding penalties, and districts are held to what the hearing officers decide. If this new law passes, hearing officers will submit their decisions to the school district for review, and the school district will make the final conclusion on the action to take.
