By Tom Chorneau, SI&A Cabinet Report | http://bit.ly/II8X89
Thursday, May 03, 2012 :: Analysis of personnel records over the last three months by Los Angeles Unified has generated more than 500 cases of teacher misconduct referred to state regulators for review.
State officials said Wednesday that well over half are likely to require formal investigation and adjudication by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing.
The referrals have more than doubled the disciplinary workload the agency typically handles over an entire year and comes at a time when the commission is under severe pressure to cut spending.
The CTC could not provide details yet about the 573 cases filed by L.A. Unified so far. But a report from the agency’s Division of Professional Practices showed statewide there were 107 cases pending involving allegations of sexual crimes by teachers involving children, as of the end of March.
The report, intended to highlight serious misconduct likely to require further investigation and an administrative hearing process, also revealed 105 pending cases related to “serious crimes or felonies.” Another 23 were allegations tied to adult sexual misconduct; 48 pending cases were related to drugs; and 12 involved alcohol.
The CTC could not say how many of those pending cases involved teachers from Los Angeles.
The spike in reports from LAUSD stems from a spate of sexual misconduct cases that has ensnared the district this year. One involved a former elementary teacher arrested on 23 charges of committing lewd acts on students; there was also a former teacher that resigned under a cloud of misconduct that was hired by unsuspecting administrators at a neighboring district.
LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy ordered a district-wide review of personnel files in February in a search of cases that had not been properly referred to the state.
Of the total number of misconduct cases forwarded by LAUSD as of Wednesday, CTC staff found that 95 were incidents already reported to the commission and will not require further review.
CTC staff determined 373 cases likely will require review by the commission’s Committee of Credentials – responsible for initiating all investigations into allegations of misconduct by credential holders and applicants. Thus, most of those cases will require significant investigation as well as substantial staff time, since the commission eventually might take disciplinary action.
It is also unclear how far back the cases go but staff reported at least one dates to 2006.
Dealing with the enormous uptick in work will be challenging to the CTC, mandated as the state’s the arbiter of teacher integrity and quality.
Although the commission is self-funded through fees charged on examinations and accreditation services, it faces a $5 million shortfall next year because of teacher layoffs and falling enrollment into teacher training programs.
Ironically, the new workload struggles come just as the commission has restructured internal operations to provide new efficiencies and oversight – improvements called for in a critical 2011 state audit. The audit discovered a backlog in 2009 of more than 12,000 unprocessed misconduct complaints.
Nanette Rufo, director of the Professional Practices Division, said the agency is working through the surge of cases.
“I think we are making really good progress in dealing with an unprecedented increase in workload,” she told members of the commission at a hearing last week. “But I can’t hide that we’ve got some real challenges.”
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