Crackdown on wayward teachers clears Senate hurdle

Sen. Clay Yarborough said his bill is "about accountability and ensuring our laws are just." Image via Florida Senate.

Sen. Clay Yarborough’s proposal requiring more detailed reporting on teachers accused of crimes now has just one stop before the floor.

“I wish we did not have to take up this bill, but due to some circumstances that we have had out there, this is very important for us to do,” the Duval County Republican said ahead of the bill clearing the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

SB 1374 would impose reporting requirements and mandate the removal of teachers accused of a wide variety of crimes detailed in Florida Statutes. These include grooming behaviors.

Teachers and administrators would be required to self-report the accusations within 48 hours of arrest, and would also be compelled to report convictions and rulings for any offense except a minor traffic violation in the same time frame.

Districts would have to remove the teachers from classrooms within 24 hours of the notification.

Yarborough was inspired to file this bill by a series of incidents in his native Jacksonville, where the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts had a number of teachers who flouted laws and community standards.

In a letter last year to Acting Superintendent Dana Kriznar, the School Board and Jacksonville General Counsel Michael Fackler, he expressed “serious concerns about the immediate safety” of students at Douglas Anderson in the wake of an arrest of a teacher over a “sexual incident” covered in the local press.

“The fact that the district was aware of this and allowed the teacher to remain in direct proximity with students and chose not to inform parents until last week is beyond comprehension,” Yarborough wrote.

This legislative proposal is an attempt to get state guardrails on a situation neglected by locals.

The bill notes that the “self-report is not considered an admission of guilt and is not admissible for any purpose in any proceeding, civil or criminal, administrative or judicial, investigatory or adjudicatory.” So it’s not a presumption of guilt. But it’s a recognition of the gravity of the charges.

A House companion bill is still waiting on its first of two committee hearings.