Report: No system in place to track abusive teachers

Sunday, January 14th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Oklahoma has no system to track abusive and incompetent teachers who have been fired or forced to resign, a flaw that allows such teachers to switch school districts and keep working, according to a newspaper report.

An investigation by The Daily Oklahoman, which reported its findings in a copyright story in Sunday's editions, found several states where all firings must be reported to the state agency in charge of teacher licensing. Some states make it a crime for school administrators not to report teachers fired or punished for suspected abuse.

But Oklahoma Superintendent Sandy Garrett admits the state has some of the weakest reporting requirements in the country when it comes to reporting teacher firings and teacher misconduct.

``With the shortage that we're seeing with teachers in some areas, it would be nice to have a central clearinghouse to check on teacher certification or to see if the teacher has had problems with other school districts,'' said Mary Howell, executive personnel director for Tulsa Public Schools. ``We want to put the best possible teachers in the classroom.''

Most schools conduct criminal background checks on prospective teachers. The state Board of Education revoked nine certificates last year, which prompted Garrett to ask legislators to change state law and require state and national background checks on anyone wanting to become a teacher.

The checks also would be required for teachers renewing their certificates.

But the state rarely revokes certificates unless teachers are convicted of felonies, The Oklahoman found. And background checks don't catch everything or everyone.

In a Tulsa case, a middle school special education teacher was fired in 1996 for willful neglect of duty and negligence. Administrators said repeated physical altercations with students constituted child abuse and illustrated his incompetence.

But the man kept teaching, first in Muskogee and then in Oklahoma City. He never was charged with a crime in Tulsa, so criminal background checks uncovered no problems.

No law required Tulsa schools to notify the state Education Department of alleged abuse, Tulsa and state education officials said. Last month, the man was arrested in Oklahoma City, accused of molesting a student. Police are investigating, and the district has started termination proceedings against him.

Garrett told the newspaper that she will propose a new Internet-based system requiring superintendents to report all dismissals ``for cause.'' Teachers whose contracts are not renewed for cause also would be reported.

Garrett has not completed her proposal, but said she wants superintendents to report information online. Superintendents would be given passwords to ensure security, but the information would be accessible by the public.

``We'd have to be sure it wouldn't be tampered with, but we certainly think this would help school districts,'' Garrett said. ``We are now a very mobile society, and teachers, just like everyone else, move around a lot.''

She said the online system should not replace criminal background checks, interviews with former employers and other standard hiring practices.

Also, Garrett and other educators suspect there is no foolproof way to stop teachers who resign before they're fired.

``If you're checking people out, the problem usually isn't in finding out if they're fired,'' Wetumka Superintendent Stephen Haynes said. ``The problem usually is that they've resigned and why they resigned is rarely a matter of public record. You don't find out there's a problem until it's too late.''