06:58 PM EDT on Saturday, August 13, 2005

By PAMELA HAMILTON
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. — One in five educators sanctioned by the state for bad behavior in South Carolina in the past three years had been accused of sexual misconduct such as molesting or having sex with students or other children.

Besides allegations involving sex, disciplined educators also are most likely to face sanctions for breaking rules for administering standardized tests or being too aggressive -- or too lax -- in punishing students.

Since 2002, at least 278 school workers have been punished by the State Board of Education after they broke state laws that define what is acceptable behavior for teachers, principals and guidance counselors.

That's just a fraction of thousands of educators who are certified to teach in South Carolina. There are about 50,000 educators working in the state.

The bad seeds "are extreme exceptions to the rule," state Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum said.

The No. 1 reason teachers lose or give up their licenses in South Carolina is allegations of sexual impropriety -- mostly high school teachers who've been accused of having sex or trying to start romantic relationships with teenage students, according to an Associated Press analysis of records provided by the state Department of Education.

The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, show that in other cases teachers have been charged with molesting younger students or caught storing pornography on a classroom computer.

"A lot of these cases ... I don't know that you would call them pedophiles," said Jane Turner, an Education Department attorney who investigates and prosecutes cases of teacher misconduct. "And a fair number of them don't involve actually carrying out a relationship.

"It's not all just having sex with students. It's having a relationship with a student -- like phone calls, e-mails, that kind of thing. We find out about it before it goes any further."

In some cases, teachers admit to sleeping with teenage students, but criminal charges are not filed because the students are over the age of 16.

In 90 percent of the sexual misconduct cases, teachers suspected of having sex with students or making sexual overtures lose their licenses; either the agency takes it or the teacher gives it up. "Sexual misconduct is something that we take very seriously, and we do not tolerate that," Tenenbaum said.

But in a few cases, educators have their licenses suspended for a period that ranged from as little as six months to as long as two years. And in even fewer cases, such as when a teacher made inappropriate comments in front of a class, educators were reprimanded.

The agency usually finds out about allegations of teacher misconduct from the school district. It also gets reports from other places such as newspaper accounts or a national database that tracks teacher misconduct in all 50 states.

After receiving a report of misconduct, education officials start their own investigation. In some cases, criminal charges have been filed, but the agency rarely relies on the law enforcement investigation, Turner says. In other cases, criminal charges aren't filed but the agency still takes a license away.

At least three full-time education staffers, including Turner, spend most of their time investigating complaints and pursuing cases. The agency then makes a recommendation for punishment -- which can include license revocation, voluntary surrender, suspension or public reprimand -- to the State Board of Education. The board then votes on the final action.

Many variables help determine punishment for a teacher, Turner says. A lot can depend on witness credibility or whether the teacher admits misconduct and expresses remorse, she said.

Educators stand to lose their jobs for a number of reasons -- from lying on an application to being convicted of a crime.

But, teachers are in some ways held to a higher standard than the average working professional -- and for good reason, some say.

"Any organization that's responsible for children ... must stay vigilant in making sure that our children stay safe at all times," Tenenbaum said. "I believe that the students of our state must be safeguarded. They are entrusted to the care of the state, and we must safeguard their innocence and their childhood."

In South Carolina and all but a few other states, teachers have to be fingerprinted before getting a license. And when the state punishes an educator, it is reported statewide and nationally to prevent bad teachers from leaving one district or state and going to another.

That screening helps keep students and other teachers safe, said Jim Turner, who heads the state Office of Teacher Certification.

"I don't think there's any question that children are safer today than they were 15 or 20 years ago" when districts weren't required to report problems at a statewide level and new teachers didn't have to go through screenings, he said.

The state is working to develop an electronic system for fingerprinting new teachers, he said. With the current system, it can take as long as eight to 12 weeks for the agency to get results of the FBI fingerprint check.

Some experts say screenings should be expanded to include all school workers -- from janitors and cafeteria workers to the principal.

"Anybody who's got a chance to come into contact with kids -- we need to know who they are," said Roy Einreinhofer, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. "We want to make sure the kids are safe."