Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > Hyde Schools
Maine's Child Molester Protection Legislation
Anonymous:
Maine law bars details of why teachers decertified
By Glenn Adams, Associated Press Writer | October 20, 2007
AUGUSTA, Maine --Teachers in Maine have been accused of sexual involvement with students, but state law bars disclosure of how many educators lost their certifications as a result.
A 1913 statute prohibits the state Department of Education from providing access to documents that show why certification has been denied, revoked or suspended. The department cited that law in rejecting a Freedom of Access request by The Associated Press for records of disciplinary actions against certified teachers between 2001 and 2005.
The request was part of a seven-month investigation in which AP reporters sought records on teacher discipline in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Across the country, sexual misconduct allegations led states to take action against the licenses of 2,570 educators from 2001 through 2005. That figure includes licenses that were revoked, denied and surrendered.
Young people were victims in at least 69 percent of the cases, and the large majority of those were students.
Nine out of 10 of those abusive educators were male. And at least 445 of the cases the AP found involved educators who had multiple victims.
There are about 3 million teachers in the United States.
In Maine, the teacher confidentiality law blocked release of any revealing data. Even Gov. John Baldacci knows how restrictive Maine's law is.
While running for his first gubernatorial term in 2002, Baldacci opposed Maine's "fingerprinting" law which requires school employees to submit to criminal background checks and fingerprints to prevent those with histories of sexual abuse from being hired.
After Baldacci was elected, his education commissioner, Susan Gendron, sought to provide him with the numbers of decertifications in order to persuade him to change his mind, said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the department. The move was denied at first, but Gendron ultimately received clearance from the state attorney general's office to provide the numbers.
An AP review of news reports from recent years, data from the state's Sex Offender Registry and records from state courts provides a glimpse into the problem in Maine. It confirms convictions of two teachers and one other school employee between 2001 and 2005 for sex offenses.
In Gorham, a junior high school teacher pleaded guilty in 2003 to sexual abuse of a minor for having contact with a 14-year-old student. Timothy Fogg received a two-year sentence with all but six months suspended. State records show only that his certification ended in 2002, but no reason is given.
In Windham, former Latin teacher James Bourget pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge involving a 16-year-old student and received a 364-day suspended jail sentence. Bourget's teacher certification also ended in 2003.
Records turned up names of a drama club adviser in Westbrook who was convicted of unlawful sexual contact with a 17-year-old, but there is no certification record listed for him. A driver education instructor was acquitted of a charge of unlawful sexual contact in March 2002 and state records show teacher certification ending in 2004.
Records also show numerous other cases in which teachers and coaches in Maine public and private schools were accused of sexual offenses involving students prior to 2001. One case stems from a prominent educator's offenses in Massachusetts.
The sex registry says the former head of Maine's English-as-a-second-language program, Bernard "Barney" Berube, was sentenced in February to 90 days for two counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14. The charges stemmed events at a summer camp in Massachusetts in 1976.
Maine's fingerprinting law had turned up about 1,300 people with convictions as of 2001. The convictions include misdemeanors and felonies and a wide range of crimes.
The state had fingerprinted about 29,000 people out of a total work force of 45,000 to 50,000 as of 2001. The Department of Education, citing Maine's confidentiality law, refused to release updated figures.
© Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More from Boston.com
Anonymous:
"state law bars disclosure of how many educators lost their certifications as a result."
1. teachers do not have to be certified to teach in private schools
2. chances of hyde reporting transgressions?
Anonymous:
Does anybody know if ANY of Hyde's teachers are even certified?
Ursus:
Here is the afore noted news article in the format presented to Mainers. Much abbreviated, a somewhat different slant to the tone, and 9 days later. Somewhat curious, since the Associated Press author of the lengthier version is based in Augusta, ME.
Wonder whether loyalties to Baldacci amongst the Press ownership(s) might have something to do with that?
UPDATE, Nov. 15, 2007: I have since found this same (below) article from another source (not Maine) which does note the AP writer credits, and it is also by Glenn Adams of Augusta, ME. It would appear that some in Maine are trying to keep the heat on this issue, as odie noted previously.
============================
Governor Eyes Revision Of Maine Confidentiality Law
Web Editor: Rhonda Erskine, Online Content Producer
Created: 10/29/2007 1:55:17 PM
Updated: 10/29/2007 1:56:48 PM
AUGUSTA (AP) -- Governor Baldacci is considering asking lawmakers to revise a Maine law that keeps secret the reason why a teacher loses certification.
The 94-year-old law was brought to Baldacci's attention after an Associated Press series about sexual misconduct by teachers in the nation's schools.
As part of its investigation, the AP requested teacher decertification records in all of the states. Maine was the only state that provided nothing.
The Maine Department of Education cited the law barring the release of any information about why teaching certificates have been suspended, revoked or denied.
Baldacci says he has discussed the confidentiality law with Education Commissioner Sue Gendron and may submit legislation during the upcoming session to change it.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Anonymous:
--- Quote from: ""Guest"" ---
--- Quote from: ""Guest"" ---While some schools and states have been aggressive about investigating problem teachers and publicizing it when they're found, others were hesitant to share details of cases with the AP — Alabama and Mississippi among the more resistant. Maine, the only state that gave the AP no disciplinary information, has a law that keeps offending teachers' cases secret.
Excerpt from:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h28L ... wD8SD5OJO0
By MARTHA IRVINE and ROBERT TANNER
--- End quote ---
So in contrast to all other states in the Union, Maine has passed legislation against transparency in cases of sexual predation in its schools. Finally, some relevant and interesting research! Thanks!
One tends to doubt that the state of Maine is concerned about the reputations of its offending teachers. Keeping offending teachers' cases secret protects the reputations of the schools that employ them. Since such a bill is not in the public's interest, it was probably not originally intended to protect public school systems. It represents rather the interests of the consortium of private schools in Maine. It is not too far-fetched to conjecture that Hyde is primarily or even solely responsible for seeing this unique bill adopted, for, of all private schools in Maine, Hyde is the prime beneficiary, given the high risk of sexual harassment arising from the sexually explicit information sharing that goes on there between teachers and students. The proof of the pudding is in the eating of it: Hyde has a long and well-known history of sex-offending teachers.
Questions I'd like to see answered: Who pushed for the adoption of this bill, unique in the nation in its protection of sex predators? What governor signed it? Did they have ties to Joe Gauld? Did they have ties to Jean Gannett Hawley, chairman of the board of Gannett Newspapers in Portland, Maine, whose husband Sumner taught at Hyde and was one of Joe Gauld's closest friends?
--- End quote ---
I don't gte it. Why would hyde be "prime benificiary"? This seems far-fetched.
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