School systems throughout the state would be informed when teachers face allegations of sexual or violent crimes under a bill a state lawmaker plans to propose.
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-District 34, said the measure would prevent school districts from unknowingly hiring a teacher accused of these crimes.
“Children?s safety in the classrooms should be a primary goal of the school systems in this state,” Jacobs said in a statement. “We must not allow sexual predators to hide out in our children?s classrooms.”
Jacobs? bill would include private schools that do not notify county superintendents of teachers under criminal investigation for alleged sexual, violent or child-abuse crimes.
This legislation also would impose a financial penalty against local school systems that do not notify county superintendents of allegations of these crimes, said Bryan Shuy, Jacobs? chief of staff.
Jacobs was going to propose similar legislation last session, but the Maryland Department of Education said it would resolve the issue itself.
Only one of the 25 members of the state Professional Standards and Teacher Education Board voted for the regulation, said John Smeallie, assistant state superintendent for certification and accreditation. He cast the supporting vote on the board, but said he understood why others opposed the regulation.
“The large number, the majority of these cases result in no finding, so they were concerned with identifying and tarnishing [suspects?] professional reputation, or causing an adverse reaction, when they are innocent,” Smeallie said.
Timothy Gounaris was sentenced to 18 months in jail for sexual crimes this month, only after being forced to resign from Harford and Baltimore county school systems because of criminal sexual allegations.
“The fact that the teachers decided not to address the issue is why I?m doing it,” Jacobs said, “but it was his crimes against children that caused me to do this in the first place.”
