RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) released a memo on educator misconduct reporting requirements in response to two major cases involving the alleged sexual misconduct of public school employees.
The memo, penned by Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Balow, cites “two recent highly publicized cases involving alleged misconduct by public school employees,” as the impetus for the announcement.
VDOE Director of Communications, Charles Pyle, confirmed with 8News that the “two cases” referred to a former school counselor accused of providing false paperwork to the sex offender registry in Fairfax County and a Powhatan school band director accused of taking indecent liberties with a child.
The memo serves as a reminder that certain laws are in place to protect students from educator misconduct. According to the document, these laws rely on the responsibility of both state and local levels to be effective.
“While [Virginia law] places the responsibility to report arrests on law enforcement, school divisions must provide accurate contact information for the division superintendent for the law to achieve its purpose of weeding offenders out of schools,” the memo reads. “We strongly recommend that all contacts of this nature from law enforcement and social services agencies be immediately elevated to the highest administrative level within the school division.”
The full memo and all of the laws addressed can be found online here.
