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SALT LAKE CITY — When West Jordan resident Rebecca Ivory was in junior high, her choir teacher took special notice of her and her natural singing ability. Ivory was initially flattered by the attention, putting at ease, somewhat, her insecurities.
"Little did I know that her attention would cause me nightmares for the rest of my life," Ivory said.
After two years of grooming, Ivory's teacher crossed the line into sexual abuse, which went on for four more years. Ivory said it took her eight years to realize the abuse was not her own fault, and it took a total of 20 years to summon the courage to talk to school district leaders.
Within two days, the district verified the story and got a confession from the teacher, who was then fired. But two years later, the choir teacher was given back her teaching license by the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Committee, a group of educators and community members who manage educator licensure in the state.
After the teacher died last summer, Ivory, who is now a teacher herself, learned there are at least four other people who had endured sexual abuse from the same teacher.
"I will be fine," Ivory said to members of the State School Board last week. "There's going to be ongoing things in my life, just like we all have. But if I can show you the hell that I've lived through, there's not a one of you who would put her back in the classroom."
But the State School Board, the top governing body for public education in the state, has been limited in what it can do to because of a rule making authority of the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission an advisory group to the board that manages teacher licensure in the state.
The House on Monday unanimously approved a bill that would answer two questions: Should a person convicted of a felony sexual crime be allowed in the classroom, and who has final say when it comes to teacher licensure in Utah?
HB345 would permanently restrict a person convicted of a felony sexual crime from obtaining or renewing a teaching license in Utah. The restriction would also apply to teaching license applicants or prospective school volunteers who were convicted of other offenses, such as engaging in sexual conduct with a minor, or with a student who is not a minor but is enrolled at the school where the applicant is or was employed.
Brad Smith, state superintendent of public instruction, said education leaders will likely develop a list over the next year identifying additional behaviors, such as violent crimes, that would preclude a person from being a teacher.
"We can all agree at present that sexual crimes should preclude one from entering the classroom again — ever. And that's what the bill does," Smith said. "It is not a universal listing. For example, I would propose that someone who is engaged in behavior that might constitute attempted murder probably should be precluded from a classroom again. We're not defining that because we know we have substantial additional work to do."
The bill also defines the State School Board as having the power to approve or revoke educator licenses, and it moves the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission into its intended advisory role to the board instead of having independent rule-making authority.
Bill sponsor Rep. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, said the bill is a "reboot" of rule making authority, and it would help protect other teachers who work to maintain a safe school environment.
"We all wince in pain, somewhat, for the suffering of the abused. But we also struggle for the suffering of the system that then takes a reputational hit and a suspicion that then is cast over every educator as a result of it," McCay said. "This now becomes the opportunity for the state board and for UPAC to work together to make policies that best protect the children in the classroom."
The bill, which now awaits Senate approval, has struck home for several legislators, including Rebecca Ivory's husband, Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, who said sexual offenders being able to re-enter the classroom is a "critical problem."
House Minority Assistant Whip Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, said he also is an adult survivor of sexual abuse as a child by another student at school.
"Child sexual abuse casts a very long shadow," Briscoe said. "It takes a long time to come to grips with."
Briscoe voiced his support for HB345, but he said more training is needed to prepare teachers in handling such incidents.
"My only concern is that we do a better job up front in our training of teachers entering the profession and every several years in helping them understand explicitly what they should and should not be doing," Briscoe said.
"We do a good job in our schools of education at training people how to write tests, how to do curriculum, how to understand children psychology, how to do classroom management. But we don't prepare teachers really well for that first interesting tweet or email message they get from a student." Email: mjacobsen@deseretnews.com Twitter: MorganEJacobsen
