A Jackson County lawsuit alleging a teacher sexually abused students at two different Kansas City schools raises questions about potential gaps in the safeguards meant to protect students.
According to the lawsuit and reporting in The Kansas City Star, parents at Academie Lafayette, a French immersion charter school, reported a teacher for misconduct with students. He then got a job at a local private school, Pembroke Hill, where he was accused of abuse again. The state at first substantiated the abuse at Pembroke Hill, but reversed course on appeal.
Both schools told The Beacon they took action, such as cooperating with authorities and investigating, when they learned about the abuse allegations.
The idea that a sexual abuser in a position of trust, such as an educator or clergy member, could be pushed out of one role yet land in a new one and abuse again isn’t unique to the allegations in the lawsuit. It has a common shorthand among advocates and policymakers — “passing the trash” — and state and national laws have been designed to prevent it from happening.
In Missouri, a system of training and reporting requirements, investigations and background checks is meant to keep abuse out of schools. But the rules get murkier when it comes to allegations that don’t result in criminal convictions or formal confirmation from the state.
And while some parts of the law apply to private schools, others don’t, leaving the rules up to schools themselves or the organizations that accredit them. A section of the law that requires public schools to share certain information with one another doesn’t mention private schools.
That leaves students vulnerable, some worry.
“Somebody who hurts children is not more likely to be at a public or private school,” said Jessica Seitz, executive director of the Missouri Network Against Child Abuse. “Perpetrators go where children are.”
“Information sharing needs to happen through a screening process of all applicants to public, private, parochial, charter (and) magnet schools,” said Terri Miller, president of the National Center to Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct, and Exploitation.
“This is how employers identify those with offending histories so that they cannot be hired in schools within their state,” Miller said. “Missouri has not enacted this type of legislation yet.”
Missouri Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Democrat who represents part of Clay County, said she wants more private schools to be legally required to complete background checks.
“While I know there are private schools that certainly do this on their own,” she said, “I think certainly as a parent, I would want to know before sending my kids to the school that every person who has contact with a child has undergone thorough screening and vetting.”
The report
If someone suspects child abuse in a school, the first steps should include contacting Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) and law enforcement, said Eric Avant, the coordinator for educator certification at Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Missouri Child Neglect and Abuse Hotline
1-800-392-3738
Avant oversees background checks and potential disciplinary action for licensed teachers.
Under Missouri law, some people, such as medical professionals, law enforcement members, social workers, ministers, teachers and other school officials are mandated reporters, meaning they are legally required to call the hotline or report online if they suspect abuse.
The list of mandated reporters doesn’t distinguish between public and private school teachers. And the requirement is to report any reasonable suspicion of abuse even if you aren’t able to confirm it yourself.
Avant said he encourages parents to report suspicions of abuse in schools as well, not only to school officials but also to the state social services department through its hotline, and to law enforcement.
“I would expect that the school would follow their procedures,” he said, “but for a parent’s own peace of mind, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them following up” directly with DSS and law enforcement.
Caitlin Whaley, senior director of advocacy for the Missouri School Boards’ Association, said every mandated reporter who knows about potential abuse or neglect is required to make a separate report, even if they know someone else has already reported.
“That really makes sure that child abuse investigators can get as comprehensive of an understanding of what happened as possible,” she said.
She said the hotline is always open, and non-mandated reporters should use it too.
“I would always encourage somebody who thinks a child is being abused or neglected to call that hotline,” she said.
Schools are not allowed to penalize people for making reports. They can do their own investigation for the purpose of employment decisions, but that investigation should wait until after a report is made with the state, according to Missouri law and the DSS guidelines.
Those who report abuse in good faith are immune from civil or criminal penalties for doing so. Failing to report as a mandated reporter or knowingly filing a false report are both Class A misdemeanors.
The investigation
The two types of reports — to law enforcement and to the state’s hotline — trigger two different types of investigations.
Law enforcement considers criminal charges, which could result in an arrest and eventual conviction. Criminal courts use a standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” to determine guilt.
A hotline call triggers an investigation by DSS’ Children’s Division, which can substantiate the report if evidence shows it is more likely than not to be true.
By law, the department immediately contacts law enforcement about school-related investigations. It also notifies the school administrator and the affected child’s parents or guardians.
Investigators should interview the child outside of the school setting where the abuse occurred, or at least “in a neutral area away from the alleged perpetrator,” said Baylee Watts, DSS’ media director, in an email.
School administration, parents and the alleged perpetrator also receive notice of the investigation’s outcome, Watts said. If the Children’s Division finds evidence to substantiate the abuse, the alleged perpetrator can appeal.
If the accused does not appeal or their appeal fails, their name is added to a list called the Central Registry.
Watts said members of the general public can’t view the Central Registry. It’s confidential but available to certain people on a “need to know” basis. For example, public and private schools can ask for information about their current or prospective employees and volunteers.
What happens to an accused educator
Whaley said her organization encourages schools to consider putting a teacher on leave or allowing them to take leave on their own during an investigation.
Speaking about public school districts rather than charter or private schools, she said teachers generally have employment contracts and can’t be terminated without cause.
If the Children’s Division does find a preponderance of evidence for abuse, Whaley said, the teacher is then disqualified from working in a public school.
State law says a school district or charter school must immediately suspend a teacher if the Children’s Division substantiates a report of abuse. The school is allowed to bring the teacher back if the finding is later overturned. But even if the report is unsubstantiated, that doesn’t preclude the school from firing the employee for any lawful reason.
Teacher licenses
Avant said that the state’s education department is also watching for the outcomes of investigations.
The department receives a notification through an FBI and Missouri State Highway Patrol program, Rap Back, if any certified educator entered in its system is arrested and fingerprinted anywhere in the United States, he said.
If an incident results in criminal charges, the state’s education department monitors the case and tracks its progress through the court system, Avant said. If the person is convicted, the agency could discipline them such as by suspending or revoking their teaching license.
A similar process would happen if the education department received notice of a child abuse investigation through the Children’s Division, he said. And the department also checks up on incidents mentioned in news reports or on social media to make sure it isn’t missing anything.
While more minor misconduct can result in lesser penalties, a list of offenses such as dangerous felonies, sexual misconduct and crimes against children by law result in revocation of the person’s license.
The educator can appeal to the State Board of Education, but it would be difficult to make the case that they should keep their license when state law says otherwise.
Avant said sometimes members of the public want teachers accused of crimes to lose their license faster, but that his department has to let the legal process play out.
“The accusation does not initiate an automatic revocation,” he said. “It’s the conviction.”
But that doesn’t mean the person is still in the classroom, Avant said.
“It’s just that they may still be certified for a little while,” he said. “They won’t be able to go to another school. They won’t be able to go to another state … because that information is shared.”
Background checks
A system of background checks and alerts is supposed to prevent people who have committed abuse or other serious crimes from working at a school.
School districts and charter schools are required to do criminal fingerprint-based background checks on employees who have contact with children and on some volunteers.
Both the state highway patrol and the FBI receive the fingerprints and check them against criminal history files. The checks are supposed to happen at least annually.
The Rap Back system that alerts schools to any new arrests of teachers is not open to the general public, but Capt. Eric Brown, who leads the Public Information and Education Division for the Missouri Highway Patrol, told The Beacon in an email that private schools can use it and other background check systems under federal law.
Public and private agencies that work with children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities can also access “fingerprint-based criminal history information” through Missouri Volunteer and Employee Criminal History Service, he said.
Public and charter schools are also supposed to check sex offender and child abuse registries.
Watts, of the Children’s Division, said Missouri links multiple relevant state systems and databases to check for records of abuse.
The registry is not open to the general public, Watts wrote, but private schools are able to use it because it is available for registered care providers such as schools and senior care facilities.
Private school “background check requirements may vary depending on factors such as accreditation requirements,” Watts wrote.
For example, the standards for the Independent Schools Association of the Central States, which accredits Pembroke Hill, include processes “to prevent and respond to child abuse” including background checks and clearly communicating state reporting requirements.
The Missouri Nonpublic School Accrediting Association, which accredits more than 250 Catholic, Lutheran, Islamic and other schools around the state, also requires background checks and child abuse and neglect screenings for employees and volunteers.
Missouri requires background checks for staff and volunteers at unlicensed boarding schools.
Nurrenbern said that particularly with public money going to private schools through the MOScholars program, she thinks the state legislature has more jurisdiction to make rules.
“One of the things I intend to do is introduce legislation to ensure any school that receives a voucher requires and undergoes thorough vetting of all teachers, staff and volunteers to the same statutory requirements that we require for public schools,” she said.
Seitz said child protection laws should apply “any place where children are cared for … public or private.”
Miller said it’s good that Missouri’s background checks include crimes committed in other states.
“Fingerprint background checks are a false sense of security, though,” she said, because not all abusers “carry a criminal record that can be found through fingerprint background checks.”
Jetta Bernier, executive director of Enough Abuse, agreed that background checks aren’t enough on their own. She said most people who are caught abusing in schools had a clean background check.
“The reason for that, obviously, is that those who abuse kids work very hard not to get caught,” she said. “…They’ll pick a kid who they think won’t tell, and so they can go through lots of kids without anybody confronting them.”
Sharing information with other schools
In addition to background checks, advocates said, state laws need to promote other information-sharing among schools.
Missouri law contains protections for school districts and charter schools that tell other public schools about former employees’ conduct, but also includes potential consequences if they hide that information. That section of the law doesn’t mention private schools.
Seitz said that updates to the law in 2019 made it stronger, but that there is always room to improve. For one thing, public schools might communicate less consistently with private schools because they aren’t explicitly named in the law.
“They may be more confident in what they’re allowed and not allowed to do when it’s another public school … versus maybe unclear, maybe nervous about it for a private school,” she said.
The law says public schools should have a written policy covering who can answer requests for information from potential employers and what information the district will provide.
The policy should include telling other public schools who ask for information if the board found after a due-process hearing that the educator violated district policy related to sexual misconduct with students.
If an employee follows that policy, they can’t be sued for what they tell the potential employer.
In fact, if a district or charter school doesn’t disclose enough information, such as the fact that it dismissed an employee or allowed them to resign over abuse allegations, it can be held liable if the person goes on to abuse in another school. Public schools are also required to disclose if the Children’s Division substantiated a report of abuse by a former employee.
And schools should be asking. The law requires that public schools ask Missouri’s education department for the prospective employee’s former district or charter school so they can request more information.
Bernier and Miller said one way to make disclosures stronger is to have prospective employees answer a series of questions about whether they have been accused, investigated or faced any disciplinary action for sexual misconduct.
They said that should include disclosing if they agreed to surrender a license or resign a position in order to stop an investigation. The applicant would then be required to sign a waiver allowing past employers to answer similar questions about them.
Miller said that if a teacher disclosed allegations that weren’t substantiated they could still be considered for employment, but the district should seek more information.
“Unsubstantiated could mean that the witnesses were uncooperative,” making it difficult to verify the allegations, Miller said. “It doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen.”
Whaley said schools also shouldn’t discount information that they get through other channels, such as a parent from a former school calling with information about someone’s background.
“You should consider any information that’s available to you,” she said.
Training and prevention
Missouri law requires that all school districts and charter schools provide training to teachers and other school employees, covering warning signs of child sexual abuse or abusive relationships between children and adults. The training must emphasize the duty to report and that administrators shouldn’t inhibit or penalize employees who report abuse.
School board members must also receive training on sexual abuse and abusive relationships.
The state also requires districts to train students sixth grade and older to recognize, report and seek help for sexual abuse. Parents can opt students out of the training.
Miller said training for students younger than sixth grade is also important because “they can be abused as well.”
Bernier said she would like to see schools nationwide focus on abuse prevention as well as responding after it happens.
She said high-quality training can help, and many schools need more detailed policies for adults and students that prohibit any level of boundary violations, such as closed-door meetings with students, singling students out with gifts or socializing with students.
Bernier said some of the listed behaviors might be attempts to groom students for sexual abuse, or teachers might have zero sexual intent. But a school culture where smaller boundary violations are addressed no matter the motive can prevent them from escalating to abuse.
“You cannot form these special, unique relationships because they lead to this slippery slope where eventually sexual abuse can happen,” she said.
Seitz said that laws can provide accountability for abuse, but that strong training and policies at the school level do more to protect children from harm in the first place.
Miller, who is from Nevada, said advocates have gone through a long process of promoting law changes, then finding new loopholes to fix.
“Missouri has done a fairly good job of trying to address the issue,” she said, but there is still work to be done.
“Every law that pertains to an issue of child abuse, child neglect (or) child sexual abuse needs to be applicable to all youth-serving institutions and organizations,” she said. “That would be a big task … to make these laws strict enough and applicable to every youth. Because the truth of the matter is, where children are present, so too will be those that seek to harm them.”
