Law would make inappropriate teacher-student relationships a felony

Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska had a solid case against Andrew Sewell.

Valeska had text messages sent by the former Dothan High principal to a student saying he loved her and wanted to marry her. He had phone records of calls exchanged between the two and excuses for absences written for the student by Sewell.

He had evidence, but because the victim was over 16, all Valeska could charge Sewell with was contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor to which Sewell later pleaded guilty. Had the victim been just two years younger, Sewell could have been charged with second-degree rape. If Sewell had been convicted of that charge, he could have faced a stiffer sentence and would have had to register as a sex offender upon his release.

“We have laws that guarantee 2 to 20 years if you’re selling drugs near a school. Why can’t we pass a law saying if you prey upon students you get the same?” Valeska said.

A bill in the Alabama Legislature would close the loophole currently allowing some teachers who engage in inappropriate relationships with students to escape with little or no legal punishment.

House Bill 661, sponsored by state Reps. Benjamin Lewis, Locy Baker, Steve Clouse and Spencer Collier, would allow persons of authority over children ages 18 or under to be charged with rape, sodomy or sexual abuse if they engage in sexual activity with their charges. The bill would apply to teachers, principals, doctors treating patients, camp counselors, etc., who are exercising supervision, control, oversight, or custody over a child who is 18 or younger.

“We’ve got people who are preying on our children and it needs to stop,” Lewis said.

Lewis has sponsored the bill for the past two years in the Legislature, but feels outrage over the Sewell case and other similar recent incidents may help break legislative logjams that have kept the bill holed up in the rules committee.

Lewis said the bill has attracted opposition from the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, which has concerns about scenarios that may arise such as a 19-year-old employee being prosecuted for having a relationship with a 17-year-old employee.

Lewis said he is willing to work to amend the bill.

Jim Wrye, a spokesman for the Alabama Education Association, said his organization has taken no position on the bill.
Valeska said he was frustrated by the Legislature’s inaction on the bill.

“Who could be against this bill?” he said. “Why can’t you keep your zipper up until they graduate high school?”

Ronald Jackson, a spokesman for Citizens for Better Schools, said new laws are only just part of the solution to the problem of inappropriate student-teacher relationships. Jackson said the Alabama Department of Education and local school boards also need to take a more active role in ensuring that educators who prey upon students are punished, and their misdeeds are made known to the public.

“The big deal about this is all the secrecy that surrounds it,” Jackson said.

According to the Opelika-Auburn News, Jackson’s group got involved in the issue when it was contacted recently by a woman who said a 38-year-old Advanced Placement history teacher had an inappropriate relationship with her 17-year-old son, a student of the teacher.

According to the O-A News, Jackson said the Birmingham school board allowed the teacher to resign, but no criminal charges have been filed.
Kenneth Thomas, an attorney for the Birmingham City Schools, said teachers are allowed to resign whenever they please, and that the matter had been referred to law enforcement and reported to the Alabama Department of Education. Thomas said the city school board would welcome legislation making the behavior in question a crime.

According to the Alabama Department of Education, between 2001 and 2005, the department took action against the certification of more than 140 teachers. More than 60 of these offenses regarded sexual misconduct. The department defined sexual misconduct as, “not only criminal conduct, but also conduct which did not result in a criminal conviction.”

The department further explained that such conduct could include possession of obscene materials, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a fellow teacher, hosting a Web site with sexually explicit photographs of oneself, prostitution, soliciting prostitution, and public lewdness.
The Dothan Eagle is currently working to obtain a list of all teachers who were stripped of their certificates between 2005 and 2008 and a reason for each action taken by the Alabama Department of Education.