A 5 On Your Side Investigation found dozens of Ohio educators were disciplined for sexually-related misconduct over an 18-month period.
Records obtained from the Ohio Department of Education reveal at least 80 state educators faced disciplinary actions for sexually inappropriate misconduct between January 1, 2015 and July 1, 2016.
Of those 80 educators, 16 were charged or convicted with sexual battery.
Several of the educators were also charged or convicted with felonies including, illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, gross sexual imposition, and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.
Most of the remaining educators were disciplined for failure to maintain appropriate teacher-student boundaries and sending inappropriate messages on social media.
State officials permanently revoked the licenses of more than half of the educators disciplined for sexually-related misconduct.
The majority of the remaining educators signed consent agreements and were suspended.
The total number of Ohio educators disciplined for sexually-related misconduct during the time period we reviewed could be far higher than 80.
5 On Your Side Investigators found the state’s database failed to list the basis for discipline for 80 of the 608 educators who faced disciplinary action against their licenses.
So how well does Ohio protect students from the "bad apples" who prey on them inside schools?
5 On Your Side investigator Sarah Buduson found dangerous loopholes in state education policies that allow predators to evade detection.
Watch our exclusive investigation “Failure to Protect” Wednesday on NewsChannel 5 at 11 p.m.
