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
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?