Rep. Cunningham Warns Parents About

Teacher Sexual Abuse Epidemic

By Jim Day

The nation has continued to be horrified by stories of sexual abuse within the Catholic priesthood, but another epidemic even more prolific has caught the attention of one Missouri legislator who wants to take steps to protect Missouri children. Missouri State Representative Jane Cunningham, a Republican who represents West St. Louis County (District 86) is working on legislation that would provide parents and school districts with the tools necessary to deal with the overwhelming issue of teacher sexual misconduct – a problem found by an Associated Press (AP) report to be six times as common as the more highly publicized priesthood cases.

The Associated Press report serves as the impetus for Rep. Cunningham’s legislation, House Bill 1314 (HB 1314). In that report the AP uncovered 2,570 cases nationwide in which educators lost their licenses because of sexual misconduct. In Missouri, the report’s findings were even more disturbing as the state was found to be the 11th worst in the nation for educator sexual misconduct. From 2001-2005 the AP reported 87 teachers lost their licenses due to sexual misconduct.

“As alarming as these numbers are, they are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problem we’re facing here in Missouri,” said Rep. Cunningham. “What the AP uncovered deals with the ‘reported’ cases and they represent only a fraction of the problem. We’ve learned that only one out of every ten victimized children even comes forward to report sexual misconduct, and when they do they sometimes face off against school officials who would prefer to hide the problem.”

One of the most compelling examples of a school district trying to cover up the problem comes from a case currently taking place in Warrensburg. An entire girl’s basketball team has filed a lawsuit claiming their coach verbally and physically abused them in a sexually inappropriate way. Among their claims was that he reached his hand into their shirts and exposed his genitals to them.

The response by the school to these allegations was to re-instate the coach before completing its investigation. It also released a statement stating the school “continues to unequivocally state that the allegations and assertions made by the plaintiffs are false, misleading, and/or inflammatory.” Included in that statement was the assertion that the Department of Social Services supported the findings of the school. The department has emphatically denied this claim.

“We are seeing a school and a community turn its back on young girls who are simply trying to protect themselves from abuse,” said Rep. Cunningham. “This is nothing short of bullying on the part of the school district as it tries to discredit these young women. Community members fuel the district’s public efforts to discredit their own students and families have even gone as far as to try to get their parents fired from their jobs and they have done things as despicable as playing music with lyrics saying to ‘get over it,’ at a school function.”

While the Warrensburg case offers an extreme example of how difficult it can be for students to confront their sexual abusers, the problem persists throughout the state in more subtle ways.

During testimony on the bill at the state capitol, Amy Hestir Davis, who Rep. Cunningham’s bill is named after, came forward to discuss her experiences with confronting a teacher who sexually abused her. Davis testified that she was groomed by her teacher to have intercourse with him at her Moberly school for two years. Because of the intense psychological damage done to her by this experience, Davis was not able to come forward until years after it happened. When she did, the teacher was transferred from her district to the Columbia School District and then eventually on to Kirksville. Because the statute of limitations regarding unlawful sex with a minor had expired, there was no way to prosecute the educator. The teacher continues teaching to this day in a school district in Southeast Missouri.

According to Rep. Cunningham, this is such a widespread problem that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education actually has a term for it – “passing the trash.” The problem of “passing the trash” persists because school districts often choose to hide allegations of sexual misconduct for fear of being sued by the accused educator. Rather than risk a lawsuit they simply allow the teacher to move to a new district where officials and students are unaware of past transgressions.

The Associated Press report found one example of an educator who throughout his career was a teacher, principal, and superintendent who worked for 20 years at six different school districts despite multiple allegations of sexual abuse at each stop. The individual eventually had his teaching license revoked but Rep. Cunningham feels his story serves as a perfect example of a system that too often fails to protect students from sexual misconduct.

“We have taken so many positive steps to keep sexual predators from being within a thousand feet of our schools and yet we’ve somehow allowed some of them to be teachers who spend day after day with our children,” Rep. Cunningham said. “It’s time to put an end to ‘passing the trash’ and to give our schools the tools they need to openly communicate with one another when it comes to these cases. Until we can bring some transparency to the process we will continue to see these sexual offenders continue to circulate through the system. We simply cannot allow that to happen.”

To address the wide variety of issues facing school districts, parents and teachers, Rep. Cunningham’s bill, HB 1314, would create the Amy Hestir Davis Student Protection Act. If passed by the Missouri General Assembly, the bill would:

* Clarify that a background check means a Highway Patrol and FBI check as well as one with the Family Care Safety Registry. Background checks remain valid for one year after a person receives clearance on the check. Involved departments are to cooperate in developing procedures that permit an annual re-check.

* Make school districts liable to the student and to the subsequent hiring district if they do not disclose concerns about a teacher. This rule is enforced if a student in the hiring district is abused.

* Ensure that third-party reporters of child abuse who report an alleged incident to school administrators are immune from liability.

* Require neutral mediation between the victim and the school or school district at the request of the victim’s parents. This would be helpful in a situation such as the case ongoing in Warrensburg. A mediator would be able to encourage a district that decides to keep a teacher who has a complaint of sex abuse to find a way to separate the teacher and students by contracting with another school or school district for the students to attend with the parents' permission.

* Repeal the statute of limitations for unlawful sexual offenses involving a person eighteen years of age or younger.

* Limit a teacher's use of privatized internet sites. Under the bill, teachers would not be able to give students access to their personal pages until after the student has graduated from the institution.

Rep. Cunningham has worked diligently with members of her House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee to fine tune the bill. The committee has worked closely with members of various state agencies to create a piece of legislation that will protect the rights of teachers but also give students a safe learning environment free from the threat of educator sexual misconduct.

“The goal is to strike the right balance between security for students and justice for our educators,” said Rep. Cunningham. “We want to protect our students who have been abused but we also want to ensure teachers who have been falsely accused are afforded protection as well. We have thousands of wonderful teachers in this state but we have to do everything we can to ensure their ranks aren’t infiltrated by would-be sexual offenders.”

Rep. Cunningham’s bill has drawn support from all around the state. She also has seen strong support from her fellow legislators, some of whom are filing legislation of their own to deal with the issue. Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons of Kirkwood has filed a bill to give civil immunity to school districts who report on employee performance. Rep. Cynthia Davis of O’Fallon has a similar piece of legislation filed in the House. The widespread support of the idea has Rep. Cunningham optimistic that her legislation will move quickly through the legislative process.

“This is a priority issue for me and I am confident we will see it move along at a rapid pace so we can provide this much-needed protection to our students as soon as possible,” said Rep. Cunningham. “In the meantime I encourage parents to keep their eyes open for the red flags that their children are being targeted by a sexual abuser. Look for things like excessive text messaging, invitations to parties, or offers to provide rides home from school. Even the most well-liked teachers can be guilty of these heinous acts and while we don’t want to accuse innocent educators, we do want to protect our children by keeping close watch on what they are doing at school.”

To inquire about sharing an experience with a legislative committee, contact Rep. Cunningham’s office at (573) 751-1186 or email her at Jane.Cunningham@house.mo.gov.

Publisher’s Comment

Folks, Representative Cunningham’s bill, as well as Senator Gibbons’ and Representative Davis’ bills, should be ‘no brainers’ for the General Assembly to pass and pass quickly. However, as incredibly unimaginable and hypocritical as it may be, both the ACLU and the NEA (National Education Association) have already publicly expressed their opposition to Rep. Cunningham’s bill. And I have no doubt that their supporters in both Houses will try to kill HB 1314 as well as Senator Gibbons’ and Representative Davis’ bills.

I strongly urge you to flood your State Representative’s office with phone calls, emails and letters in support of HB 1314! Tell those who are supposed to represent you that you want children protected from sexual abuse by educators and that you want the practice of ‘passing the trash’ to stop immediately.

If you don’t know who your State Rep. or State Senator are then visit our website at www.metrovoice.net. On our website you’ll find a link to both the Missouri House of Representatives and Missouri Senate sites where you can find out who your Rep. and Senator are and how to contact them.

Representative Cunningham may be reached via email at Jane.Cunningham@house.mo.gov; by phone at (573) 751-1186; or by writing her at: State Representative Jane Cunningham, 201 West Capitol Avenue, Room 313, Jefferson City, MO 65101.