Sex scandals a 'tricky topic' for area schools

Teachers and school staff occasionally are charged with sexual misconduct in the Washington area, but the issue is rarely discussed publicly.

The subject has been raised twice this month, after a handful of incidents over the past several years. First, police arrested Robert “Pete” Peterson, a teacher at Sidwell Friends School, a private school where the Obama daughters attend, on charges of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy. A week later, Fast Company magazine published a quote by D.C. schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee saying that the firing of 266 teachers in October included one who “had had sex with students.”