Acquitted teachers often land new classroom jobs despite pending misconduct cases, attorney says

A lawyer who has acted for more than one educator facing sex offence allegations says that, after winning their cases, those clients have gone back to teaching—usually at a different school. Speaking to the Jamaica Observer on condition that she not be named, the well-known counsel said the pattern is widespread. "Not just in the classroom, but in the workplace, generally," she argued, because "no real background check is done."

Drawing on her own caseload, she described meeting that reality directly. In one matter, two teachers faced child sex assault charges. Before either case was finished, she saw one of them already instructing pupils at another institution when she visited that campus on unrelated business.

"I represented a teacher who was charged with several counts of rape and grievous sexual assault of a grade six student at [a] primary school. I went there to do a locus visit [short for locus in quo, a legal term referring to an official, on-site visit by a judge, magistrate, or jury to the specific location where a disputed event or crime took place] and, to my surprise, [I] saw another teacher who I was also representing and who had, at the time, not one, but two matters in court for rape," she told the Sunday Observer.

The educator whose case had brought her to the school—accused of rape and grievous sexual assault—"was eventually acquitted and, to the best of my knowledge, is again employed at another primary school." She added: "Most of the clients who are teachers accused of misconduct, once acquitted, return to the classroom, albeit in a different school."

She stressed that demanding a police certificate alone cannot confirm that someone entrusted with children has an unblemished history. A clear record, she said, does not prove a person was never charged or brought before the courts. Charges may never appear as convictions when a matter collapses because a complainant cannot testify or evidence falls short. In those circumstances, the police file may show nothing about the dropped case.

Where a check is done while proceedings are still active, she noted, it will reflect that the individual was charged and that a case is pending. Once the outcome favours the accused, however, a court letter goes to the Criminal Records Office and the entry is expunged. "It then comes back 'clean', no record of arrest is shown," the attorney explained.

She acknowledged that the system therefore denies employers the "full picture," yet she also saw merit in shielding people who were wrongly accused, arrested, and later cleared from permanent stigma.

Her account aligns with remarks last month from Keisha Rodriguez-Mills, director of investigations, inspections and compliance at the Office of the Children's Advocate (OCA). Rodriguez-Mills urged school leaders to "be more aware" against a backdrop of what she described as many allegations that educators have sexually violated pupils.

Addressing a recent University of Technology, Jamaica discussion series under the theme "Strengthening the system: Protecting our children from child sexual abuse," Rodriguez-Mills said reporting of child sexual abuse is rising, including from young people themselves, but obstacles remain.

"What we're also seeing is that a lot of reports are coming in about teachers allegedly violating students. What we're also seeing as well is a lot of grooming, or alleged grooming, affecting males. But the males, being adolescents, they're not reporting it, and people are saying that they're just being 'girly' in reporting. A case can be dropped because the victim is unable to testify or there is insufficient evidence.

"So it's normally another child who is aware of [the] abuse who is making the report on behalf of their friend, which is a good thing, which is saying we, as a society, are educating our children to say and to note when something is amiss," she told the forum.

Rodriguez-Mills said some administrators treat a resignation as closure, only to learn later that the same educator has resumed inappropriate conduct elsewhere. She called on principals to run "scheduled orientation exercises on appropriate behaviours and what should be done" with prospective staff and teachers, warning that the OCA has traced harmful outcomes when that step is skipped.

"What we find from the OCA side — when we're investigating a case against a teacher — is that the teacher just ups and resigns. So when the case is being investigated the schools will say, 'Oh, we have gotten rid of the problem because the teacher has resigned,' but what has happened is that the teacher has gone to another school. And then there is no record to follow, and you'll find out that it is only when the teacher continues the behaviour at the next school then the new principal will call the other principal and say, 'Okay, your teacher is at my school and I'm getting this complaint,' " she pointed out.

Pending legislation offers another layer of oversight. The 2025 Jamaica Teaching Council Bill aims to regulate and professionalise the teaching workforce through licensing and a formal code of practice. Educators would face mandatory criminal background checks and must meet "fit and proper" standards to register or hold a licence. The Bill has not yet become law because of disagreements over its provisions.

Under the draft law, teachers would have to consent to those checks, and any conviction for a disqualifying offence carrying two or more years' imprisonment would bar them from the profession. The measure would cover: (a) a person who teaches in an early childhood institution; (b) a person who teaches in a school, whether in a public educational institution or in an independent school; (c) an instructor; (d) a guidance counsellor or dean of discipline, whether in a public educational institution or in an independent school; (e) a person who teaches in an approved home education programme, including a parent who teaches his own child and no other child, at home; (f) a private tutor, whether practising full-time or part-time; (g) a person who teaches in an education programme that prepares persons to become teachers; (h) an inspector; (i) a principal; and (j) such other persons as may be designated by the minister, by order, published in the Gazette.

It would not, as presently framed, apply to someone teaching on an ad hoc voluntary basis without pay, reward, or other consideration. Subject to the Bill, every person who, on or after the appointed day, teaches or proposes to teach in a school or other educational setting to which this Act applies, shall apply in the prescribed form and manner to the council to be registered to do so. For applicants seeking to work in an early childhood institution, a consent form authorising the council to conduct a criminal record check is among the required documents.

The attorney reiterated that most of her teacher clients accused of misconduct, once acquitted, return to the classroom.