Among the more than 150 bills sent to Governor Jay Nixon this year is one designed to keep teachers who engage in sexual misconduct with students from jumping to another school district.
The sponsor, GOP Senator Jane Cunningham of Chesterfield, says the practice is called “passing the trash:”
“Teachers and educators and principals and superintendents are moving from one district to another because districts are signing confidentiality agreements with them, and oftentimes even giving them a severance package to keep everybody quiet,” Cunningham said.
Under the bill, a school district that fires a teacher for sexual misconduct would be held liable if it doesn’t inform that teacher’s next school district about his or her prior dismissal and another incident occurs. It passed both the House and Senate unanimously.
Cunningham, meanwhile, is also considering a run for Congress.
