Sex Abuse Case Puts Heat On Charter Schools
By Pat Kossan
Originally published in The Arizona Republic, June 6, 2002
The arrest of a charter school teacher on accusations of sexually abusing two students has renewed calls that Arizona get tougher on who can teach in the state's 422 charter schools.
In April, the state Board of Education learned that some teachers who had lost their licenses to teach in traditional district schools were showing up on the payrolls of charter schools.
At the same time, the state Legislature tried to toughen teacher requirements for charters, but the bill failed.
State schools chief Jaime Molera has had enough.
"It doesn't make sense to have two standards when it comes to our students," Molera said. "All public schoolteachers should have fingerprint clearance cards."
Teachers in public school districts cannot be hired unless they carry a fingerprint clearance card ensuring that the teacher has never been convicted and is not awaiting trial on any of 71 offenses, including sexual abuse, drugs, assault or neglect.
State law also requires charter schools to fingerprint their teachers, but with a key difference: Any criminal record is sent to the charter school owner, who may still hire the teacher even if he or she has a record of arrests, charges or convictions.
Charters are privately owned for-profit or non-profit schools funded with public money. Charter schools operate with far fewer regulations than traditional district schools and teach about 63,000 students each year.
Sen. Jay Blanchard, D-Gilbert, introduced the legislation to require fingerprint clearance cards for charter teachers, but it failed.
Safety at issue
Molera said he will push both the State Board of Education and the State Board for Charter Schools to require all charter teachers to carry fingerprint clearance cards and for the boards to review how background checks are conducted on all teachers.
"It is a safety issue," Molera said. "The state boards of education must step in where the Legislature did not act."
On Monday, Ronald Henry Harris was arrested and accused of molesting two students who attended International Studies Academy, a 6-year-old charter school in Glendale. Harris was hired at the beginning of the school year, and attorney Leo Condos said Wednesday that the school did what it was required to do by law and "didn't find out anything that would preclude him from being a teacher."
But Condos said he wasn't sure when Harris, 36, was fingerprinted or if the school ever received a record of a criminal background.
Department of Education teacher investigation records show Harris is not certified, has a criminal record in Arizona and out of state, and lied about his arrest record on a 1998 application to become a certified teacher.
The records show Harris acknowledged a 1993 disorderly conduct arrest in Tempe. Harris could not get certified to teach in a traditional district school without a hearing before a state board, state investigators said.
Every charter school owner has access to the department's Web site, which contains the teacher investigation files, said Kristen Jordison, executive director of the State Board of Charter Schools. But when it comes to hiring, she said, "ultimately, it's up to the charter."
Harris was arrested Monday after two students said the teacher gave them drugs and alcohol and sexually abused them in his Chandler apartment. The girls are 13 and 15.
Arrest stuns parent
The arrest stunned West Valley resident Gene Schneider, whose daughter was a student in Harris' history class at International Studies Academy, which she attended for two years.
"I was led to believe they operated under the exact same policies and regulations that district schools operated under, as far as teachers go," said Schneider, a retired hospital executive. "It really angers me when I read he was not certified."
Schneider said his daughter will not return for her senior year.
Harris remained in a Maricopa County jail Wednesday on $230,000 bond and declined to be interviewed. A message left at the school was unanswered.
The State Board for Charter Schools is investigating International Studies Academy to determine whether it may have broken its contract with the state by putting Harris in the classroom without requiring him to get fingerprinted. If it did, the school's owner will face a hearing before the board, Jordison said, and the school's license to operate could be revoked.
