Miller Reintroduces Legislation to Protect Students from Sex Offenders and Violent Predators in Schools
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, today reintroduced legislation to prevent registered sex offenders and criminals convicted of crimes against children from working in schools. The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act would require public school districts to conduct comprehensive background checks for existing employees or applicants for employment or contracting, using state criminal and child abuse registries and the FBI’s fingerprint database.
“This Congress can and must do more to protect our children from abuse, neglect and sexual or violent offenders while at school,” said Rep. Miller. “This legislation will prevent more children from being put in unsafe environments because the adults responsible for their well-being had been convicted of crimes against children.”
A 2010 Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found that people with histories of sexual misconduct were being hired by school systems across the country, despite state laws designed to prevent it from happening. The report, conducted at the request of Rep. Miller, also found gaps in state laws regarding which adults at schools must be checked and the types of offenses that disqualify staff from employment. The GAO report highlighted 15 cases in which teachers or coaches were hired, or kept on school staffs, despite histories of sexual misconduct. In at least 11 of the cases, the offenders who were hired or retained had previously targeted children. In at least six of the cases, the offenders abused more children after they were hired.
The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act would also prohibit schools from hiring or retaining anyone with access to children who has been convicted of certain violent crimes, including crimes against children, crimes involving rape or sexual assault, and child pornography.
Today’s introduction caps off a month focused on the safety needs of our children as a national priority. Miller also reintroduced this month two pieces of legislation to protect children and teenagers from abuse and neglect in schools and in residential programs.
Earlier this month, Miller reintroduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act. The legislation would protect schoolchildren from abusive use of physical restraints and solitary confinement while in school. It would also, for the first time on a national level, set minimum safety standards in the nation’s schools, similar to those protections already required at medical and community-based facilities, against the misuse of restraint and seclusion in classrooms. It would provide school personnel with the necessary tools, training, and support they need to ensure the safety of all students and school personnel.
Last week, Miller reintroduced the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act. The legislation would protect teenagers attending residential treatment programs from abuse by staff personnel. It would set common-sense, minimum safety standards that states would need to adopt and enforce to protect teens from physical, mental and sexual abuse in these programs. The bill would also create easily accessible information for parents about the safety record of programs so that parents could make sound decisions about where to send their children.
During his remarks on the House floor, Miller urged Congress to rewrite the nation’s education law to ensure that students and schools have the support needed to address all aspects of violence. Miller underscored that Democrats, through ESEA reauthorization, will fight for critical services, including violence prevention activities, bullying and harassment prevention, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention, to ensure that schools and students have the necessary support to provide key non-academic services essential for students to succeed in a safe and healthy learning environment.
“We owe it to parents and to the children and to the school officials who follow the rules to consider these bills,” said Miller. “We also owe it to them to send a strong message that people who abuse children or do not do their jobs to keep children safe will face serious consequences.”
The Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act previously passed the House on December 21, 2010 and is supported by the Children’s Defense Fund and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
For more information on the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act and all the student-safety initiatives introduced by Rep. Miller, click here.
Watch Rep. Miller speak on the House floor about the Protecting Students from Sexual and Violent Predators Act and child safety below.
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