As your kids head back to school, the WTKR News 3 Investigative Team wanted to look at how districts keep predators out of the classroom.
This is an issue we continue to follow through on.
Shocking crimes in schools will make headlines but sometimes teachers lose their license for bad behavior that isn’t criminal but inappropriate.
Bella Hoffman is now 19 years old, but back when she was in high school she had a horrible experience with the band director at Powhatan High School.
“He started manipulating me when I was 16, said Hoffman, “Almost immediately after I turned 17 is when he came after me sexually.”
Hoffman said she was groomed and wants parents and kids to be on the lookout for predators.
Watch: Inappropriate behavior from teachers can cost them their license
Andrew Snead is currently serving an eight-year sentence for indecent liberties with minors.
This is an extreme case, but every year teachers get in trouble for bad behavior.
“Unfortunately, when there are some people who do things that are inappropriate, or they violate their professional code of ethics. They tend to overshadow the good work that's really taking place,” said Jimmy Adams, the Executive Director of NASDTEC, National Association of State Directors of Teacher, Education, and Certification.
This group keeps track of all the cases involving public school teachers, some are criminal cases while most are not.
NASDTEC runs a clearinghouse that districts around the country use to check to see if a teacher has had issues in other schools.
They report about 6,000 of the 3.5 million public school teachers get adverse actions taken against their license every year.
This could be for a wide variety of things like as breaking school policy, not paying child support, or making an inappropriate comments.
Watch: Chesapeake teacher arrested for class assignment about killing a student
“Just because someone is in the clearinghouse doesn't mean they necessarily should not be hired as a teacher. It means that they had something in their past, and they may have corrected that behavior,” said Adams.
The News 3 Investigative Team requested documents from the Department of Education that show why certain teachers lost their licenses in Hampton Roads.
We found that in November 2022 a Poquoson teacher was charged with seven misdemeanors for giving alcohol to her teen and others at her house.
A history teacher in Isle of Wight resigned a week after a former student said she had an inappropriate sexual relationship with her while she was a junior in 2022. Records state she provided screenshots, pictures, and messages as proof. The district says law enforcement were contacted.
Sheriff’s officials sent us this statement about the matter:
“Our investigators conducted a preliminary investigation in 2022 into that complaint, alleged to have occurred in 2020. At the conclusion of the that investigation, we determined a possible misdemeanor offense that could not be charged because it was beyond the one-year threshold to charge.”
In Virginia Beach, the district got a complaint from a student saying another student said she was in a relationship with a teacher. The teacher was accused of giving two students a cell phone, letting a student stay at his house all weekend to watch his dog and paid her. Documents we obtained have the district stating the teacher’s behavior extremely concerning.
From VBPD regarding this matter: “We received a report on Oct. 17, 2023 alleging inappropriate behavior between a student and a teacher at Landstown High School. The allegations were investigated, but no evidence of criminal activity was found and the matter was closed.”
All three teachers had their license canceled or revoked.
Watch: Investigation of violence against teachers in Hampton Roads classrooms
This cases and many others could be in the clearninghouse run by NASDTEC.
Districts have access to the information and can use it when hiring people.
“One more piece of information to help you make sure that you have an informed decision about the individual that you're looking to hire,” said Adams.
They say the clearinghouse is also used to prevent problematic teachers from hopping from one state to another.
Our investigation found three recent cases where a person had their Virginia teaching license denied after trying to apply to work here due to issues in other states.
Some of the these examples include a man got arrested for battery in California, other got arrested for distributing obscene materials to a minor in Kentucky and other woman who tried and failed to work in six other jurisdictions.
“It really helps that school district make an informed decision about the people they are hiring, and it also helps them to communicate to their community that they are doing things above and beyond doing their due diligence to try to make sure they're hiring the right people,” said Adams.
As for Hoffman, she said says she’s happy that there guardrails in place to protect students and offers some advice to kids and parents.
“You have to watch out for everybody and it's not that you can't trust anyone, but you just have to be careful of who you do trust and put your trust into,” said Hoffman.
