LA to Improve Speed of Teacher Investigations

Either to get rid of them or to get them back into classes and out of "teacher jail"

With 278 Los Angeles Unified educators sitting in "teacher jail," the school board voted Tuesday to streamline and improve the investigations of those accused of serious physical abuse or sexual misconduct.

Passed without discussion, the resolution by board member Tamar Galatzan directs administrators to create a plan for hiring professional investigators to look into abuse claims, and tightens the time line for handling the cases. Teachers will also have to be told why they're being pulled from their classroom - which doesn't happen now - unless doing so would compromise a police investigation.

Under the system that many educators call "teacher jail," those accused of misconduct are housed in district offices while administrators investigate misconduct allegations and decide their fate. The process typically drags on for months, with teachers collecting their full pay - an average of $6,000 a month, plus benefits - until they're returned to work or fired.