Heather Kennedy's Arrest and Stopping Teacher and Student Sex

News has broke of yet another teacher arrested after being accused of sexual relations with a student. Heather Kennedy, a math teacher at Wantagh High School, is just the latest teacher arrested and under investigation in this disturbing trend. Police say that Kennedy and the boy had sex one week ago, on March 20. She was arrested Wednesday evening. Sadly, these cases are not unique or even rare, and are approaching the point where news breaks of the most recent example on a weekly basis. This has gone beyond a problem and has become a full blown pandemic.

Parents, concerned citizens, and high school administrators are all left wondering what can be done to reduce and eliminate these situations. The simple answer is there is no way these situations will stop as long as sexual predators continue to disguise themselves as teachers. Men and women are equally as guilty of seeking out minors and engaging them. While these recommendations must be followed there is no sure way to end this problem. In all actuality schools are fighting a near impossible battle.

The first step a school must take is to demand that background checks must be conducted on every employee, whether they have access to students or not. It is not enough to conduct these checks merely upon hiring, but employees must be checked on a yearly basis.

The second step schools must take is to contact multiple references of new prospective employee's. In a time and age when litigations are threatened and pursued on a daily basis, former employers are often times hesitant to speak on a candidate's negatives in fear of being sued. Here is where school legal departments need to be engaged in the process, and draft a list of questions which are revealing while not risking litigation for the person or company the school is contacting.