Smart Talk: Criminal misconduct complaints against teachers in PA growing

What to look for on Smart Talk Thursday, August 7, 2014:

Pennsylvania has had the second highest number of teacher sex crimes in the nation this year. That’s according to a nationwide report released last month. Twenty-four cases have been reported so far in 2014. Overall, there have been 450 complaints against teachers since January. In all of 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Education reported 482 complaints.

There have been 416 sex abuse cases nationwide since January, about the same number ordinarily seen in an entire year.

Other instances of teacher misconduct have included drunk driving and drug possession.

So, are teachers violating their students’ trust more frequently or are the methods for reporting inappropriate relationships between teacher and student different than in the past?

It is worth noting that the teachers accused of misconduct make up a small margin of the 150,000 K-12 teachers and administrators working in the state.

Kristen Houser, Vice President of Communication for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) , Dr. Lou Manza, professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College and Cathleen Palm of the Center for Children’s Justice will discuss the issue on Thursday’s Smart Talk.

To report child abuse: 1-800-932-0313