Posted by
Voice of the Victim on Sunday, December 10, 2006 12:27:20 PM
Baltimore Sun discusses predators’ privacy.
Under investigation by police for the alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl and reassigned from his classroom to a nonteaching job, English instructor Timothy N. Gounaris left the Baltimore County school system in June.
Before the summer was over, however, he had been hired to teach at a Baltimore City middle school. And less than a month into that new job, the state had revoked Gounaris' teaching certificate - perhaps unbeknownst to the city school system.
Now, in the wake of Gounaris' arrest late last month for a second-degree sex offense in the case of the middle school pupil, some education officials and parents are asking how a teacher under investigation in one school system could be hired by another just a few miles away. The scenario raises questions about whether protecting employee privacy overshadows the obligation to safeguard children.