Improper student-teacher relationships rising as background checks fail

It seems as if every week, there is a new story of a teacher who has an inappropriate relationship with a student. Whether that be via text, verbal action, or sexual contact, there seems to be more stories of the sort than ever. According to numbers from a 2023 study, 11.7 percent of graduates reported educator sexual misconduct during their time in school.

Verbal comments have become the most common form of misconduct reported, and while it is less serious than physical contact, it is still hugely problematic. But when did it get so bad? When did the conduct of teachers fall off so much?

President of the Texas Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers Zeph Capo says for starters, we do not do enough education on the matter.

"Common sense would say this is an inappropriate relationship...but there are many cases of a 22-year-old teacher with an 18-year-old student...and it does not dawn on them it is not appropriate...it might not be criminal in that case, but it is inappropriate," he says.

But ignorance does not account for the mass spreading of this problem alone. Not by a long shot.

The biggest issue has been the lowering of standards across the board to frantically address a rising teacher shortage.

"We have had a dramatic uptick in hiring people without certification...the answer to the teacher shortage has been to find more people to bring in, rather than retain ones you have," he says. "Every time you do that...you lower the standard of who you are hiring into the profession."

Teachers obviously undergo background checks, but as mentioned, in the case of a 22-year-old, there might not be a record to detect that sort of thing.

However, that problem goes deeper. The background checks themselves on career educators are even failing due to what you could either call a loophole, or system design flaw.

"If you are from out of state, and you were not certified in another state...the likelihood you get picked up in a background check is drastically decreased because there was not a certification to sanction in your previous state," he says.

There are some exceptions to all this madness, though. Unfortunately, according to Capo, there has been a rise in false allegations as well from students who simply dislike a teacher and want them removed.

While inappropriate behavior is not condoned in any fashion, teachers also need a way to defend themselves from such false claims.

"Students know if they make an allegation, that teacher is liekly placed on leave for the year...there needs to be some better regulations put in about how we investigate this, and what situations we put our teachers in," he says.

All systems that are human made will have flaws, of course. But there could be more done on the administrative side to properly vet who is coming into our schools.

In addition to better safeguards, Capo says we need to keep the topic in the news so it gets more exposure.