March 6, 2012: Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, left, (D-Sacramento) introduced a bill, AB 1717, on February 17 that would require the Dept. of Social Services (DSS) to notify the Dept. of Justice (DOJ), "whenever a community care(foster care) license is suspended or revoked. This information would be required to be included in the background checks that are conducted on public school employees.
From Dickinson's website:
“AB 1717 would close a loophole in current law that has allowed known child abusers and predators to continue to teach our children,” said Assemblymember Dickinson. “Allowing this to continue is unacceptable; AB 1717 will protect kids.”
In April 2011, a special education teacher was arrested on felony charges of six counts of lewd acts with a minor at Sam Brannan Middle School in Sacramento City Unified School District. Unbeknownst to the school district, the accused had previously had his foster care license revoked by the Department of Social Services after similar accusations had been reported. Had the school district known the teacher’s foster care license had been revoked, it would have had enough evidence and documentation to take disciplinary action. Because the District did not have this information, the teacher remained on the school payroll for 14 more months while investigations took place (more info on this story here).
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