Justice finally caught Timothy Gounaris, the former Baltimore County Public School teacher who entered an Alford plea earlier this week to committing a sexual offense on a student at Pine Grove Middle School.
But so far it has evaded the school administrators in Harford and Baltimore Counties who facilitated his transfers and who hired him in Baltimore City without checking him thoroughly.
Officials let other school districts hire Gouranis despite a tainted record, including a forced resignation from Harford County Public Schools in 2000 following sexual misconduct allegations and a resignation over similar charges in Baltimore County this summer that led to his plea this week. The Baltimore City Public School System hired him for the 2006-2007 school year.
Those officials may not have committed the unspeakable act of physically violating their students. But they surely abandoned students to a man with a track record of doing so. Is that what taxpayers pay school leaders to do? Is that the security parents expect when they send children to school?
Despite pleas to the contrary, human resource departments had nothing to fear legally from sharing all information about Gounaris ? or any other teacher leaving under an ethical cloud.
Legal experts and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education have called the school systems? liability concerns unfounded. But the bigger issue is the sheer cowardice of those connected to Gounaris? case. Even if officials? unfounded fear of a lawsuit were real, should they sacrifice the children in their care to a predator merely to avoid potential litigation? Of course not. And their insurance carriers say doing so actually increases the risk of suits and attacks on children.
Jesus said it would be better for those who hurt children to die rather than to lead them astray. Earthly justice works differently. But at the very least, their behavior grossly violates every code of ethical conduct. Their actions should be criminal.
All those connected to helping him switch school districts must be fired.
Thankfully, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education has taken steps to prevent similar issues. Last month, the group organized a meeting to let human resource departments know they cannot be held liable for sharing all information, save some medical records, about candidates for faculty or staff positions in other school districts. The state is also considering a policy to require those teachers who voluntarily forfeit their certifications to go through the process again when switching school districts. That would ensure a more thorough background check and would be welcome.
But the most important reform would be to hire school administrators worthy of public trust.
