When we send our kids to school, we expect them to be cared for, looked after, and taught by people we can trust. It's not easy to send your kids off to someone else for 6-7 hours a day, and it's even harder when you don't know who your kids' teachers really are. That's what so many parents in Arizona are dealing with, after finding out that a teacher at a local high school was the subject of sexual misconduct allegations at his previous school. Shockingly, administrators knew about the allegations for two whole years, and allowed the science teacher to stay in the classroom as the investigations moved along. This case highlights an incredibly frustrating loophole that ultimately endangers students, and puts parents in an impossible situation.

Pete Cheesebrough resigned from his assistant principal position at a West Virginia high school in May 2017, following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a teenage student. Cheesebrough and the student admitted to engaging in an "emotional relationship", exchanging emails, text messages, and kissing. The student testified that she was under the impression that Cheesebrough had feelings for her when she was just 16. He told the student that he sometimes masturbated while thinking of other students. The two exchanged texts and emails over the course of about 13 days. Cheesebrough was questioned about his relationship with her and was warned to stay away from the student. In March 2017, he was placed on administrative leave, and he resigned a few months later. In June 2017, he was hired by Scottsdale Unified School District in Arizona; officials there say he did not disclose the reasons for his resignation in West Virginia.

But administrators were made aware of the allegations via an email sent by investigators in November 2017. By then, Cheesebrough was teaching science in a high school classroom. So why did it take two years for Arizona to revoke Cheesebrough's teaching certificate and remove him from his position, when they knew the circumstances of his leaving West Virginia? Administrators say that they had to wait for West Virginia to complete their investigation (they stripped him of his credentials about a year and a half after the allegations were first made), and then they had to conduct their own investigation. Investigators say that the agencies charged with handling these cases are extremely overtaxed, and as a result, investigations take months and sometimes years. In the interim, without knowing a teacher is facing discipline over sexual misconduct allegations and as long as their credentials remain in good standing, the accused teacher is allowed to seek employment elsewhere. The Arizona State Board of Education finally revoked Cheesebrough's teaching certificate earlier this month.

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