Major school-safety reform signed into law

Darneille measure includes automatic dismissal of school employees who commit serious crimes

May 7, 2009

OLYMPIA—State Rep. Jeannie Darneille (D-Tacoma) worked more than two years to craft legislation that would prevent persons who have been found guilty of serious crimes from working at public schools in Washington.

Darneille's efforts paid off today when Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill into law that requires automatic dismissal of teachers and other school employees who have committed serious crimes, even if their victims were adults. The law will also make it harder for dismissed employees to get a job in another district where school officials are unaware of their offenses.

"This law will make children safer at schools across our state," said Darneille. "Until now, schools couldn't automatically dismiss a teacher or other employee who was convicted of a heinous crime, unless the crime was against a child. When we looked closer it became obvious that we really needed wide-ranging reforms to help schools protect children."

The new law was originally prompted by the case of Harold Wright Jr., a Tacoma public school principal who collected thousands of dollars in salary while he was on leave after being convicted of raping a 19-year-old. According to Tacoma Public Schools, Wright could not be summarily fired, because his victim was not a child.

Tacoma schools Superintendent Art Jarvis praised the new law.

"This is a good law that will help us to protect our students from people who don't belong on school grounds," Jarvis said. "We'd still like more help from the Legislature on school safety issues, but this is a good start that addresses some crucial needs."

The measure signed today:

• Greatly expands the list of crimes that require automatic dismissal of school employees and permanent revocation of their certificates-regardless of the age of the crime victim.
• Enables school districts to recover money paid to employees who were placed on administrative leave due to felony charges, if the employee is ultimately convicted and terminated.
• Requires revocation of any certificate that was fraudulently obtained.
• Allows school officials to file complaints about school employees, even if they work in another district.
• Requires better communication between school districts, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Washington State Patrol, to prevent persons barred from school employment in one district from slipping quietly into other school districts.

Darneille's measure, House Bill 1741, earned unanimous support from the House and Senate after organizations representing Washington's teachers, principals, and school directors united to support it in public hearings.

"WEA fully supports House Bill 1741," said Lucinda Young on behalf of the Washington Education Association. If a person is convicted of one of these crimes "we along with society do not want them in our public school system," she said.

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