An update on K-12 education arrests in NC
Updated data shows 321 reported arrests between 2016 and March 2023
Updated data on arrests of K-12 education employees in North Carolina raises the previously reported total of 263 arrests to 321 as of the end of March 2023.
Arrests of private school employees and staffers in public schools in non-teaching roles were added. There had also been additional arrests made in 2023 included in the total.
Based on conviction records and sex offender registrations, the data shows an increasing curve headed into the 2020 pandemic year.
Between 2020 and 2021, there was a drop-off in the data due to court and school closures. Cases were unable to be heard and access to children was cut off as schools were closed to in-person instruction. With courts now catching up, convictions are beginning to show up in the various state systems.
In 2019, the year prior to the pandemic, the number of reported arrests hit a high of 65.
321 sounds like a lot, but consider there are typically between 92,000 and 95,000 teachers in the state in any given calendar year. The most recent data from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction shows there were 94,342 teachers in the state during the 2020-21 school year.
Having said that, one case is too many.
More To The Story
It is important to note these are cases that made it into media reports or cases I was tipped off on only. It is likely there are a number of cases that have flown under the radar.
A 2017 report on sexual misconduct by educators that was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice showed one in ten students “will experience sexual misconduct by a school employee by the time they graduate from high school.”
“Despite the law requiring reporting of sexual misconduct incidents, only an estimated 5% of incidents known to school employees are reported to law enforcement,” the report says.
The most prevalent reasons for the lack of reporting included:
“Staff and community members were reluctant to believe an incident occurred.”
“Administrators may hesitate to report out of fear of community and media response.”
“District leaders were hesitant to address school employee sexual misconduct.”
The report also says a single education staffer can have up to 73 victims.
Additionally, the report found a teacher can be transferred up to three times before being reported to law enforcement. This practice, which includes allowing a teacher to resign and go elsewhere, has been known as “pass the trash.”
Read a full breakdown of the DOJ-commissioned report here.
The legislature tried to address “pass the trash” in 2017 by making changes to state education statutes related to resignation requirements:
As I wrote back in November 2022, statutes are great - but only if enforced and followed.
In the course of reporting on these cases, it has been common to find districts either don’t know about the statute or are aware and just not following the reporting requirements.
Legislation moving through the NC General Assembly may light a fire under administrators and district officials shirking their reporting duties.
House Bill 142 (Protect Our Students Act) is a DPI agency bill filed by House K-12 Education Committee Chair John Torbett (R-Gaston).
The bill passed the House on Mar. 29 unanimously by a vote of 112-0.
Here’s what the bill does:
The two most prevalent sex crimes against students by education employees have the penalties raised; sexual activity with a student and taking indecent liberties with a student will change from a Class I (3-12 month sentence) to a Class G felony (8-31 sentence).
It will become a Class I felony for a school official to fail to report a teacher engaged in misconduct to the State Board of Education.
The Center for Safer Schools will be required to produce and distribute an informational video on child abuse and neglect, but I’ve learned it will also include the topic of grooming. Each school in the state will be required to show the video during the first weeks of school to students in grades 6-12.
A PCS (preferred committee substitute) was submitted prior to the House passage vote that added definitions for inappropriate conduct by education staffers that will result in the forfeiture of retirement benefits.
The bill passed its first reading in the Senate and now sits in that chamber’s Committee On Rules and Operations. Sources inside the legislature on the Senate side say they anticipate the bill to “move fast” and hit the governor’s desk within the next two weeks.
During remarks on the bill given before the House K-12 Education committee in February, N.C. State Superintendent Catherine Truitt cited 124 instances of sexual misconduct involving students resulting in teacher license suspensions and revocations between Jan. 1, 2016, through Oct. 11, 2022.
Truitt said that “On average, this is 20 suspensions, revocations, or surrenders a year that are related to sexual misconduct involving students” but that number doesn’t include non-licensed employees like coaches, bus drivers, etc.
The arrest data I’ve included in my reporting does include those individuals as well as private school employee arrests.
Truitt has indicated that the “Say Something” school safety app was updated last fall to allow for the receipt of tips or information about student abuse by teachers or staffers.
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