Rape A Student At Knifepoint? Maybe What It Takes To Lose Your Teaching Job In NY
David W. Chen and Patrick McGeehan write about teacher misconduct -- that of teachers still teaching:

A high school science teacher in the Bronx who had already been warned about touching female students brushed his lower body against one student's leg during a lab exercise, coming so close that she told investigators she could feel his genitals through his pants.

And a math teacher at a high school in the Bronx, investigators said, sent text messages to and called one of his female students nearly 50 times in a four-week period and, over the winter holidays, parked himself at the McDonald's where she worked.

The New York City Education Department wanted to fire these teachers. But in these and 13 other cases in recent years in which teachers were accused of inappropriate behavior with students, the city was overruled by an arbitrator who, despite finding wrongdoing, opted for a milder penalty like a fine, a suspension or a formal reprimand.

As a result, 14 of those 16 teachers are still teaching and in contact with students, on either a daily or occasional basis. The other two were removed from their positions within the last month when new allegations of misbehavior surfaced against them, according to the Education Department. The department released records of the 16 cases, including reports compiled by the department's special commissioner of investigation and the arbitrators' rulings, under a Freedom of Information request.

...As in many states, New York law grants tenured teachers the right to a hearing in front of an arbitrator before they can be fired. Teachers can also appeal an arbitrator's ruling to a civil court.

"As I was reviewing these cases, I said, 'Huh? How could this person go back to the classroom?' " Mr. Walcott said in an interview Thursday. "It's very frustrating. Definitely my hands are tied because the arbitrator made a ruling, because I would not have put these people back in the classroom."

...A few admitted to much or all of what was alleged, but argued that ending their teaching careers was too harsh a punishment. Others denied all, saying the charges were fabricated or trumped up. The science teacher in the Bronx, for example, denied rubbing up against the student, and although the arbitrator's decision said that he most likely touched the girl, there was no proof that his genitals had made contact. The teacher, Norman Siegel, was suspended without pay for 45 days and ordered to take sensitivity training.