Database of disciplined teachers published

From Breibart this evening:

A confidential, nationwide list of 24,500 teachers who have been punished for a wide array of offenses was made available to the public Friday by a Florida newspaper.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune created a searchable database of the teachers' names after waiting for years to gain access to the list. The paper began seeking the material as part of its earlier reporting on teacher sexual misconduct in Florida. It obtained the list from the Florida Department of Education.

The list, gathered and maintained by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, does not provide any information on why any of the teachers were disciplined. Sexual misconduct, financial misconduct, criminal convictions and other misbehavior all can bring disciplinary actions against teacher licenses.

(snip)

The newspaper's [Sarasota, FL Herald-Tribune] Web site allows readers to type in a name and state to determine whether a person is in the database. The list provides no other information than a date of birth to confirm an identity.

Here's the link to the database. The disclaimer reads:

These results shows a list of licensed educators who states report have had action taken against their certificate. The types of behavior that lead to sanctions may include serious misconduct or relatively minor issues, including contract disputes or failure to repay student loans.

You can search by last name, first name or state.

For a copy of the entire database, please email Chris Davis
A searchable database of Florida records is available through the Broken Trust series or the Florida Department of Education.

And here's the Herald-Tribune's 4 part investigative series about teacher misconduct in Florida entitled "Broken Trust".