Biden administration proposes limiting the reporting of teacher-student sexual assaults at K-12 schools

The Department of Education wants to remove from its 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection a question regarding sexual assaults committed by teachers and school staff on students, even as an alarming number of both male and female teachers are being caught and arrested for seducing or sexually assaulting students.

Quick Facts

• The Trump administration required that the Office of Civil Rights keep track of sexual assaults of students by teachers and staff.
• The Biden administration has proposed removing the requirement.
• Critics accuse the Biden administration of being controlled by the teachers’ unions.
• The proposal comes at a time when there has been a trend in teacher-student abuse, especially among female teachers seducing or sexually assaulting underage students.

The proposal would remove reporting on sexual assault allegations that led to “a resignation or retirement prior to final discipline or termination.”

A spokesperson said that the change was a way to reduce burden and duplication of data.

“For the 2021-22 CRDC, OCR will continue to collect data on the number of documented incidents of offenses committed by school staff, including rape or attempted rape, and sexual assault. These are data the CRDC has collected since 2015-16. We propose retiring data on the number of allegations made against school staff to reduce burden and duplication of data. This is a proposal and OCR welcomes feedback on this proposal from the public during the 60-day comment period”

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said, “There is no rational way to justify sweeping teachers sexually assaulting students under the rug. The only explanation is that the Biden Administration is a wholly owned subsidiary of the teacher union bosses, who have long tried to cover up teachers behaving badly.”

The administration also proposed retiring the recording of:

• “Whether any of the school’s students, faculty, or staff died as a result of a homicide committed at the school”;
• “Whether there has been at least one incident at the school that involved a shooting”;
• “Number of allegations made against a school staff member of rape or attempted rape, or sexual assault that occurred at the school, which were followed by a determination that the school staff member was responsible or not responsible for the offense”;
• “Number of allegations made against a school staff member of rape or attempted rape, or sexual assault that occurred at the school, which had a determination that remained pending”;
• “Number of allegations made against a school staff member of rape or attempted rape, or sexual assault that occurred at the school, which were followed by a duty reassignment prior to final discipline or termination.”

The proposal comes at a time when there have been surging numbers of sexual assaults reported in schools, as well as parental unrest regarding school safety.

For example, Loudoun County, Virginia, is still reeling after the school board hid a sexual assault committed by a male student in the girl’s bathroom last spring. Not only did the school board not inform parents that the assault had taken place but claimed during a board meeting that no sexual assaults had occurred in the school bathroom nor had any been committed by transgender students, even though the suspect was gender-fluid.

In addition, there continue to be too many cases of male and female teachers abusing or seducing students. In recent years, though, there’s been an alarming rise of this type of predatory behavior by female teachers on underage students, both male and female. For example, on October 1, 2021, local news stations reported that a 41-year-old female teacher in Maryland was arrested on charges of sexual abuse of a minor student. Less than a week later, a 31-year-old female teacher in Florida was arrested for having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student. And one week after that, a 41-year-old female teacher, who is now pregnant, was charged with having a sexual relationship with a male high school student.

In September, a 44-year-old female teacher in New Jersey was arrested for sexually abusing a student and also sharing and taking illegal drugs with the same student. And earlier this year, a 31-year-old female high school basketball coach and teacher in Oregon was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually abusing one of her underage female students.

K-12 schools routinely provide reams of financial data, health data, compliance data, academic data, employment data, diversity data, and other disclosures as part of their mandated reporting to state and federal education departments. But now suddenly keeping track of sexual assaults and sexual abuse by teachers and staff is just too much of a paperwork burden for school officials to bear?

There is no logical justification for ceasing to track these statistics, particularly when sexual assaults in K-12 schools are so prevalent and parents are highly concerned for the safety of their children. The Biden administration’s proposal to limit reporting does nothing to calm those fears, but it further adds to the increasing worry of parents that the government is more concerned with protecting the teachers’ unions than with protecting their children.

School officials who are truly concerned about the well-being and safety of children should be more than willing to provide full transparency on this issue, and the Biden administration should immediately withdraw its proposal.