Have a case under investigation where a coach has had sexual contact with several female students. He was fired/ or resigned here and arrested for Harrassment while we complete the investigation. Meanwhile he has been hired in another small rural community as a coach/ teacher. How do we protect those kids? My elected is worried about getting sued but this guy will do it again. He even paid for one victim's abortion before the law was changed to give us a hammmer.

Just got through with a trial where an Asst. Principal/former coach was convicted of sexual assault stemming from a relationship with a 16 year old student. At trial, we proved (and he admitted) to having had an earlier sexual relationship with a 17 yr old student (back before the Prohibited Sexual Contact Educator/Student statute) at another school he had worked at. Needless to say, he won't be teaching or working in a school again any time soon.

When I got into that case, however, I was shocked at how infrequently information is shared among school districts regarding teachers/coaches with this type of history. It seems it's a combination of just wanting to get rid of the problem by sending it somewhere else; and a fear of getting sued for telling the truth about what a former employee has really been up to.

The new statute criminalizing this type of conduct regardless of the age and/or consent of the victim is a step in the right direction. However, it does seem to me that school districts should be more proactive in reporting this type of conduct and sharing with the State Board of Education and other school districts where the offender might seek to go. Whether this is something that needs to be addressed legislativelly, I'm not sure. I am sure it's a problem that exists all over the state and it has existed for a long time.

As I told my jury in closing, if there's one place our kids should be safe from sexual predators, we would hope that it's at school.

You can also contact the State Board for Educator Certification in Austin. They can start an investigation to parallel yours, and they have the power to strip certification. Although I am a criminal defense attorney, no one likes teacher predators. The phone number is 512-238-3271. Donna Starling is an attorney there, and she is a former Nueces County ADA.

Thanks for the information. Have 3 teacher/school employee sex cases with kids sitting on my desk and we live in a little community. It really is a huge problem that no one wants to confront

Are there a lot of Defense lawyers who monitor this site?

You can bet on it.