State Ed Board Chair Says Notice Rule Puts Parents First

Schaffer opposes suit filed by Colorado Education Association to stop rule requiring parents to be notified when a school employee has been arrested for a felony.

DENVER (Colorado News Agency) July 18, 2011 -- The chief of the State Board of Education is pushing back at the state’s largest teacher’s union in defense of a board-backed rule requiring parents to be notified when a school employee has been arrested for a felony. The Colorado Education Association filed suit to stop the new rule in June after the board implemented the policy in April.

State Education Board Chair Bob Schaffer, who long had advocated for a parental-notification law, says he’s not willing to backpedal when it comes to a parent’s right to know.

“I don’t mind the debate, but if they (the CEA) want to put the best interests of alleged pedophiles and child abusers above the safety of children and keep parents in the dark, I take the side of parents,” said Schaffer, a a Fort Collins Republican and former congressman who represents Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District on the board.

CEA spokesman Mike Wetzel says the union’s June 30 lawsuit asks the courts to declare the rule unconstitutional because it “will create fear and unrest among students, parents and school employees in the school community” while also presuming the guilt of the accused.

“Let’s face it: Bad things happen to good people,” said Wetzel.  “The parental-notification rule does nothing to further protect students, nothing to alleviate the concerns of parents, but everything to destroy the career of any school employee wrongly accused.”

Wetzel says that an accused employee, who is later found not guilty, simply may not be able to recover from the ordeal. Schools may also wind up losing good people, says Wentzel.

“The court of public opinion is an unjust, ugly place, and we can’t support laws that will drive fine educators into that abyss,” said Wetzel.

The policy, which went into effect at the end of May, was enacted by a unanimous board vote and has received the  editorial endorsement of the Denver Post. However, it has drawn fire from the statewide lobbies representing local school boards and superintendents.

Schaffer says it’s one thing to recognize the rights of the accused in the justice system but quite another simply to keep parents informed so they can do what they believe is best for their own children.

“Would you want Casey Anthony, who was acquitted, to babysit your child?” asks Schaffer. “Parents, are bosses in the school system, and deserve to be as fully informed as the school districts are. We need to put the safety of children first, ahead of the interests of dues-paying employees, and let the parents decide about their children’s safety.”