When an accused sexual offender can switch school districts without so much as a heads up to his future employer, heads should roll.
It?s sick. It should be criminal.
The Baltimore City Public School System hired Timothy Nicholas Gounaris, 50, a former Baltimore County middle school teacher arrested last Thursday by county police for sexual abuse, to teach eighth grade at Chinquapin Middle School.
A school employee alerted police about suspicions that Gounaris was having a relationship with a 13-year-old student.
The school system removed Gounaris from the classroom and placed him in a warehouse position following the accusations in January. Taking him from the classroom was appropriate. But that stopped way short of public duty. School officials should have also immediately notified surrounding school systems of the accusation. Who decided to keep mum? Why? Is the safety of the children in surrounding districts less important than that of students in Baltimore County?
Even more troubling is the fact that a Baltimore City school spokeswoman said it is “standard operating procedure” to get a reference from a teacher?s previous employer.
Who provided a reference? Whoever it was must be fired. Immediately.
But the city school system should not get off without censure. Why didn?t Gounaris? shift to a warehouse position raise a glaring red flag? Even if he did not note the change on his resume a reference call should have caught it and forced a discussion about his transfer.
According to a June report from the state Department of Legislative Services? Office of Legislative Audits, 11 sex offenders were certified to teach in Maryland from Feb. 1, 2002 through June 30, 2005.
The report found that none of them were teaching in public schools during the time studied, but if registered sex offenders can be certified, who else can sneak into the system?
At the very least, accusations and disciplinary actions should be added to teacher personnel files and shared with all potential employers ? and parents. Would you let your child into the classroom of teacher disciplined for inappropriate sexual conduct? School systems must also not rely on background checks alone, as this situation showed. Thorough reference checks must become the norm.
And if State School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick has not already done so, she must craft a procedure for handling similar situations to prevent the next Gounaris from evading detection. Parents deserve to know their children will be safe when they send them to school.
That is the most fundamental of public trusts.
