Losing Your License

Over at The Education Wonks they're talking about a new plan in South Carolina to post the names of teachers who have had their licenses revoked in the state. I can't say that I see the problem here; if you've done something that egregious the community has a right to know.

Here in Washington State the OSPI periodically publishes a list of the teachers in the state who have been subject to disciplinary action. It only ranges from 2000 to 2005, but it's 14 pages of names. It also makes you wonder--what did these people do, and where did they do it? The discipline options presented are suspension, revocation, permanent revocation, and voluntary surrender, but they don't give any indication of the reason why.

Curious, I went and did a little digging. There's 15 names listed as "current discipline actions" from October to December of 2005; here's the names that jumped out after a quick search on Google:

• Robert Beresford, Permanent Revocation: This winner slept with one of his students in Everett. The odd thing here is that he was sent to prison in April of 2004, but he's only listed on the most recent (end of 2005) list.
  
• Abel Delarosa, Suspension: In the "it makes you wonder" category, the only link Google can find to an Abel Delarosa is one on the faculty of Dumas JHS in Texas, teaching industrial arts.
  
• Kevin Maib, Revocation: Lost his license after four misdemeanor sexual assault charges.
  
• Steve Mansfield, Voluntary Surrender: He got himself in trouble for "innapropriate contact" with his middle school students in Longview.
  
• Chad Maughan, Permanent Revocation: To hell with this guy. First he had his license suspended for having pornography at school (a suspension he was allowed to serve during the summer vacation!), and then he carries on a sexual relationship with a 14-year old girl. When the legislature crafts bills because of you, you're stepped in it good.
  
• Carl Schubert, Voluntary Surrender: This case was a big, big deal in the Spokane area. Mr. Schubert went from being honored for his outstanding work at a school board meeting in Nine Mile Falls in 2002 to being accused of rape later that same year. What makes this case all the more troubling is that Mr. Schubert was the self-contained special ed teacher at Lakeside; his victim was a 20-year old with a mental age of 5 to 7 years.
  
• Robert Swalstad, Revocation: He had sex with a 15 year old student of his in Hunters, got her pregnant, took her to Wyoming, and married her. He only got six months, mainly because the victim nee wife won't speak out, and I'm not sure I blame her--it would be frightening to be 16 and have to consider the thought of the father of your child going to prison for a decade.
  

All I can say is wow. 15 names on the list, and 6 of them are for sexual misconduct. I'd go through some of the other pages, but it's going to take me a little while to process what I've just been reading. For the 8 names that I didn't list above I couldn't find anything on Google talking about what they were in trouble for.

It's disturbing. I give the state credit for printing the names of the people facing disciplinary action, but there should be some context. Last district worked in, town lived in, that sort of thing. Names alone just aren't enough.