Political Quotes

“Last year alone, over 450 teachers or school employees across the Nation were arrested for misconduct with a child. That is more than one per day. What is more, the Department of Education has estimated that nearly 10 percent of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career. Those numbers should be disturbing to every lawmaker, to every parent, and every grandparent in this body. In an effort to curb this alarming trend, I am proud that the Student Success Act under debate here today includes language from a bill that I introduced, the Jeremy Bell Act, to strengthen student protection efforts and get serious about who is being hired and transferred within our school system. The Jeremy Bell Act was named after a young boy from West Virginia who was drugged, sexually assaulted, and murdered by his elementary school principal--a man who had been suspected of sexual misconduct at previous jobs but was allowed to quietly transfer from district to district, avoiding repercussions and without awareness from his new employers, a shameful act known as ``passing the trash.'' Language found within the Student Success Act will end the practice of ``passing the trash'' by blocking educational agencies from receiving Federal funds if they facilitate the transfer of an employee that they know or have probable cause to believe has engaged in sexual misconduct with a student.…”