Column: Reporting teacher misconduct shouldn't be a choice

It's at least the sixth accusation of sexual misconduct by an Eastern Iowa educator that has surfaced since January.

But the case of former Benton Community school district teacher Walter Drahozal is more than just the latest in a grim string of revelations - it reminds us how little we know about what other cases might be out there.

Because when school leaders were confronted with allegations that Drahozal, of Solon, had sent sexually charged messages to students, they made a choice to report the incident to the state Board of Educational Examiners.

Yes, a choice.

Iowa law gives school boards discretion in reporting misconduct that doesn't involve criminal charges, and the legality of Drahozal's notes is fuzzy even though the content reportedly was way over the line.

Benton County Attorney David C. Thompson told me a little about Drahozal's notes to girls (aged 13 or so). Said the teacher asked them about their sex lives, what they'd “done” with their boyfriends - asked if they'd taken any nude pictures.

Drahozal told them he was a willing ear if they wanted to talk, according to Thompson. Still, the school board had discretion. Imagine the temptation to make it all go away - to just take his resignation and a promise not to come back around there again. Board of Educational Examiners Executive Director George Mauer told me Tuesday that he's sure it happens. “It's a concern,” he said.

One he said he's brought to legislators' attention. But so far, they haven't been moved to change the rules.

We don't know why the Benton school board decided to report Drahozal, or why it took them three years after his January 2006 resignation. They made the decision in closed session and Benton Community School Superintendent Gary Zittergruen declined to talk.

It was Thompson who released the agreement between Drahozal and the Board of Educational Examiners. “All too often, schools feel as if this type of activity is embarrassing and needs to be kept quiet, or that employer-employee confidentiality rules prohibit its release,” he wrote in a statement accompanying that public document.

Because they reported, Drahozal voluntarily and permanently surrendered his Iowa teaching license earlier this spring.

That information will be passed along to a national clearinghouse so that other state teacher licensing boards will know about the revocation. He won't likely be teaching again - we know that.

But there's too much that we don't know.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com