The arrest this week of a Rankin county teacher for allegedly having sex with one of her students raises questions about what steps schools take to make sure predators aren’t in the classroom preying on children.
In the Clinton school district, which this year hired more than 40 new teachers, applicants must agree to be fingerprinted as part of a criminal background check.
“If we do come across something on a criminal background or something else, you don’t want someone who would be a danger to children,” said Clinton spokesman Sandi Beason.
The Rankin county case involves 34 year old Stacy Walker. She’s out of jail on bond on sexual battery charges, which are enhanced because she was a person in a position of trust or authority.
Walker was a math teacher and soccer coach at Richland high school. She was fired from her job on Monday, one day before the start of fall classes in Rankin county schools.
Police tell us Walker was carrying on a sexual relationship with a teenage boy. The inappropriate contact began near the end of the last school year and continued through the summer, according to investigators.
Recently, Clinton has had its own share of problems with employees accused of sexual misconduct.
Former bus driver, 70 year-old Shepard Havens, is accused of sexual battery and gratification of lust. The alleged victims are all girls between 8 and 10.
And Clinton high school music teacher and former minister of music John Langworthy quit the district last year after he admitted to molesting boys years ago.
“There’s always that risk no matter who you are, but we try to get goo qualified people who have the children’s best interest at heart,” said Beason.
Police say Walker has admitted to having sex with the student.
This article originally appeared on wjtv
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