Teacher's Pet

Jean Whitney writes on page 1 about a science teacher arrested on child pornography charges. The article mentions several short term teaching positions he held at various schools including several Catholic schools. The spokeswoman for the San Jose diocese uncorked what has to be considered the most telling comment saying that she "had no way of knowing...it was such a long time ago...Our HR department does not give out information." Despite having newspapers filled with charges against pedophile priests, the diocese demonstrates how little was learned. How else would a school know about problem empoyees unless another school told them of past problems. I suspect that HR departments avoid lawsuits from employees who object to bad job reviews. In an attempt to avoid lawsuits, schools avoid comments that can be used against them. The problem extends to schools who, upon reviewing the teacher's checkered employment history, avoid drawing conclusions from the evidence.