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Thursday, April 03, 2008

License Revoked: 38 Pennsylvania teachers disciplined

The Pennsylvania Department of Education has released the names of 38 public school teachers whose teaching certificates have been revoked in recent months.

One of the teachers lost her license for "Incompetence, intemperance, negligence" if you can believe that. Unions usually protect these teachers. Another teacher lost his license for "Improper teaching techniques."

But the rest of the list is disturbing considering the violations these teachers have been accused of. Here's a sample of the reasons the teachers lost their license to teach in Pennsylvania:

* Involuntary Deviate Sexual Intercourse
* Statutory Sexual Assault
* Engaged in a conversation of a sexual nature with students
* Indecent Assault, endangering the welfare of children
* Drinking alcohol during the school day
* Improper relationship with student
* Identity Theft
* Providing gifts of lingerie to student and engaging in discussions regarding sexual experiences
* Tested positive for cocaine
* Filing false insurance claim
* Used school district computers to view inappropriate images of a sexual nature
* Aggravated indecent assault
* Theft from programs receiving federal funds
* Sexual/romantic relationship with student
* DUI
* Receipt of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor

Whatever happend to background checks?

Maybe I'm overreacting. There are more than 120,000 public school teachers in Pennsylvania, according to the link I provided last week on teacher salaries.

There's bound to be a few bad apples in every bunch, but are we doing enough to screen people who go into teaching? These are people we entrust our children to for 8 hours a day. You might want to attend your next school board meeting and find out how your school district hires teachers.

Read the full list of disciplinary actions at the Department of Education Web site.

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