Colorado education officials have been ignoring a law intended to “flag” the arrests of teachers and then alert all school districts and charter schools across the state, a Coloradoan investigation has found.
The 2008 law requires the Colorado Department of Education to issue an alert every time a licensed educator is arrested. The arrest information is provided by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
But a Coloradoan investigation shows CDE officials have largely ignored the law since it was passed, arguing that they didn’t have enough money to implement it. Within days of the Coloradoan inquiring about the situation, CDE officials said they planned to start following the law. They couldn’t provide a specific timeline.
Former state Rep. Gwyn Green, who sponsored the bill that included the notification requirement, said she wasn’t surprised by CDE’s inaction.
“They have a record of not following laws,” said Green, a Democrat from Golden who has retired from the Legislature. “If this were you or I — if we ran a red light, we’d get a ticket.”
Full story: State not following law on arrests of teachers | coloradoan.com | The Coloradoan