Details about this story

• Source: Associated Press
• Date: October 21, 2007
• URL: Read the story
• Bylines: Martha Irvine , Robert Tanner
• Topics: Crime , Education
• Data Types: State Data
• Description/Excerpt: An Associated Press investigation found more than 2,500 cases nationwide over five years in which educators were punished for sexual actions from bizarre to sadistic. There are 3 million public school teachers nationwide, most devoted to their work. Yet the number of abusive educators, nearly three for every school day, speaks to a much larger problem in a system that is stacked against victims. Most of the abuse never gets reported. Those cases reported often end with no action. Cases investigated sometimes can’t be proven, and many abusers have several victims. And no one — not the schools, not the courts, not the state or federal governments — has found a surefire way to keep molesting teachers out of classrooms. Those are the AP’s findings after reporters sought disciplinary records in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The result is an unprecedented national look at the scope of sex offenses by educators — the very definition of breach of trust. The seven-month investigation found 2,570 educators whose teaching credentials were revoked, denied, voluntarily surrendered or limited from 2001 through 2005 following allegations of sexual misconduct.