Raleigh

Last year, Pitt County schools hired a teacher, only to see her arrested a few months later for taking indecent liberties with a child.

Jessica Wishnak had already been -suspended twice by the New Hanover County Board of Education for having improper contact with a student. Pitt County -officials, though, never knew about the suspensions.

It's a problem that isn't unique to North Carolina.

In 2007, The Associated Press examined sexual abuse by teachers around the nation, finding -several instances where teachers accused of -misconduct were able to move from job to job without being caught.

A group of state educators wants to make sure it doesn't happen again here.

A task force formed by the State Board of Education wants more types of -misconduct to cause teachers to have their licenses revoked and require that the behavior be reported by local school districts to the state.

The group is also recommending that a teaching candidate report criminal charges, allegations of abuse or neglect, and past professional disciplinary action on proposed license applications. Teaching-job applicants would also be -fingerprinted.

An investigative unit that looks into -sexual misconduct would be expanded, and students would be provided instruction about reporting misconduct.

The News & Observer of Raleigh, though, reports that the changes include one that isn't so friendly to the parents of school-age children or the broader public.

Right now, the teacher applications are public. The recommendations by the task force would make the new applications private, potentially meaning less -information for the public, even if local school officials making the hiring -decisions would see more details about disciplinary actions.

State education officials say making the additional information public would -violate state personnel laws. Of course, it's those laws that have allowed bad teachers to move from district to district, a problem more pervasive than isolated cases of sexual misconduct.

State Schools Superintendent June Atkinson and representatives of the state's largest teachers union, the N.C. Association of Educators, say making unproven allegations public wouldn't be fair to teachers.

Atkinson does support making more information public, including suspensions, firings or resignations related to misconduct.

Press lawyer John Bussian told the newspaper that keeping any information private risks allowing more bad teachers to be passed from school district to school district. He added that other states have better protections.

What education officials decide among themselves may not ultimately mean as much as what legislators decide.

The state Board of Education could put some of the recommendation in place itself. Others, like a fingerprinting requirement, will require changes to the state personnel law.

Those changes to the law aren't likely until next year.

Then, the North Carolina legislature can engage in a full debate about all of the issues looked at by the educators' task force.

Bouncing bad teachers from district to district is poor public policy. When the bad involves sexual misconduct, the policy is beyond poor.

Scott Mooneyham writes for Capitol Press Association in Raleigh. Contact him at smooneyh@ncinsider.com.