Teachers unions accused of 'passing the trash,' keeping abusive teachers in the classrooms

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How unions ‘pass the trash,’ and keep abusive teachers in class: Angela Morabito

The Defense of Freedom Institute issues a report calling on state governments and the Biden administration to take action to stop sexual abuse in public K-12 schools.

The Defense of Freedom Institute released a report today titled,"Catching the Trash," that details actions by public schools that shuffle around teachers suspected of sexual misconduct in K-12 public schools.

"A teacher who sexually abuses children, has been shown on average to be passed around about three districts and could victimize as many as 73 children before they get caught and get kicked out of the classroom," Angela Morabito, the spokesperson of DFI, told Fox News Digital.

The report, titled "Catching the Trash," details an "epidemic called ‘pass the trash’" where a known abuser is able to gain employment at a new school by resigning before having a negative mark on his or her record, Morabito said.

HOW UNIONS ‘PASS THE TRASH,’ AND KEEP ABUSIVE TEACHERS IN CLASS: ANGELA MORABITO

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According to the most recent federal data, between 2010 and 2019 complaints alleging sexual violence in K-12 public schools tripled according to reports filed with the U.S. The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

There were 9,649 reported incidents of sexual violence including 394 cases of rape or attempted rape in the 2015-16 school year, and 13,799 and 685 respectively in 2017-18, according to the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). The data does not differentiate if the perpetrator was a child or adult.

According to DFI’s report, many school districts are not required to tell parents when a teacher is accused of sexual misconduct at their child’s school.

DFI accused teachers unions of allowing abusive teachers to remain in classrooms by including a clause in collective bargaining agreements which allows for teacher records to be scrubbed after a few years. 

"In this way, CBAs negotiated between school districts and public employee unions combine with confidentiality agreements to shield sex abusers from appropriate scrutiny by prospective employers," the report states.

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Morabito noted that teachers unions often oppose measures designed to prevent abuse in the classroom. "It is a tragedy to see teacher unions oppose common sense reforms that would help catch these abusive teachers before they can harm more students," she said.

In 2015, Congress unanimously passed an amendment to the Every Student Succeeds Act that required states to pass laws to ban employees from helping other employees find new jobs when there is probable cause of sexual misconduct.

A loophole in wording along with relying on states to take action "has led to limitations on its reach and effectiveness," according to DFI.

As of October 2022, only 20 states have implemented laws related to this federal requirement, with various levels of severity, according to an ED-commissioned study.

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The study cited responses from state agencies claiming their states had pushed back on implementing laws because "probable cause" not being a "criminal offense," stakeholders being opposed to prohibitions on relations between educators and students of legal age, and privacy laws.

DFI spokesperson Angela Morabito. (Angela Morabito)

It could cost as much as $100,000 to remove a teacher with a strong case accusing sexual abuse, according to a 2010 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation cited by DFI.

"Other officials told us that, depending on the terms of a separation agreement, school administrators may not be able to provide anything less than a positive recommendation for an employee for fear of potential lawsuits," the investigation states.

Morabito, who previously was the press secretary at the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration from 2019-2021, also criticized the Biden administration of not using Title IX to take on sexual abuse in K-12 public schools.

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"It's questionable to me the Biden administration's view of Title IX on the whole," Morabito told Fox News.

"You see them making these changes to try and work out the meaning of sex in the law to be about gender identity, you see them proposing a rule that would force a great many schools to allow men into women's sports," she said. "What we don't see is that strong enforcement of the law, as it was written, to protect kids against discrimination on the basis of sex."

While Title IX has been commonly interpreted to prohibit sexual abuse, the report cites former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos publishing Title IX regulations in 2020 that explicitly prohibit sexual assault and harassment.

In its recommendations, DFI called for implementing a mandatory reporting law for all school employees to report suspected sexual abuse to state or local authorities.

Former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

"Whatever the reason for the apprehension on the part of school officials to report abuse, research indicates that school employees report a mere five percent of incidents of sexual abuse by their co-workers to law enforcement or child welfare agencies despite the potential legal repercussions for failing to do so," the report states.

DFI also called for mandating all school districts report teacher-on-student sexual misconduct and for state lawmakers to make penalties for public school employees who help abusive teachers get jobs in other districts to face penalties. 

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The report also recommended banning confidentiality agreements among schools and teachers unions that "prevent future employers from discovering sexual abuse investigations and findings," among other recommendations.

"Bureaucracy is the enemy of transparency, parents deserve to know more about what's happening in their children’s schools and not less," Morabito said. "Districts that are looking to hire new teachers deserve to know more about that teacher’s past history, not less."

The Department of Education told Fox News, "The Office for Civil Rights continues actively to enforce Title IX for all students, including in K-12 schools. In fact, OCR released a K-12 sexual violence resolution days before this report issued."

Click here to hear more about DFI's recommendations.