Every year, a small number of teachers in Hampton Roads face disciplinary action or lose their licenses due to misconduct, including allegations of sexual relations with students and making inappropriate comments.
WTKR News 3 Investigative Reporter Margaret Kavanagh continues to request information from the Virginia Department of Education about these cases.
A former Newport News assistant principal, Jason Taylor, is serving eight years after pleading guilty to child sex crimes. Court documents showed the charges stem from incidents that happened with a student at Western Branch High School while Taylor was a band director there, from 2015 to 2017.
Previous coverage: Parents outraged over charges against Newport News assistant principal
A Suffolk teacher is accused of buying guns for a man who got in a shootout with Virginia State Police. Jennifer McDonald was arrested in April of 2023 and accused of buying and selling firearms to a felon.
Previous coverage: Suffolk teacher bought guns for man who got in shootout with state police, prosecutors say
A former Virginia Beach elementary school employee, David Bruce Crouse Jr., 57, was sentenced for child porn charges—he will serve 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to the crimes in Oct. 2023.
Crouse is a former employee at Arrowhead Elementary School. The charges he pleaded guilty to are possession of child pornography; four counts of possession of child pornography, subsequent offense; reproduce, transmit, sell, etc. child pornography; and four counts of reproduce, transmit, sell, etc. child pornography, subsequent offense.
Previous coverage: Former elementary school employee to serve 20 years in prison on child porn charges
In another case, a teacher at Powhatan High School was "grooming" a 16-year-old student, Bella Hoffman. In an interview with News 3 last year, she said she was only 16 years old when she was groomed by her teacher, who was 36 at the time.
"He was sexually, very inappropriate with comments, physically, and as time went on it got worse," Hoffman said.
The teacher, Andrew Snead, is now serving an 8-year sentence.
Previous coverage: Sexual assault survivor warns about grooming after being abused by Powhatan teacher
Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, WTKR obtained a list of teachers from Hampton Roads who lost their licenses.
In one case, a female Suffolk teacher with five years of experience was fired in May 2024 "for having a direct and detrimental effect on the health, welfare, discipline or morale of a student by having engaged in sexual relations with a student enrolled in the Division." Police said they did not file charges because the conduct was not illegal.
In another case, a business teacher at Gloucester High School lost his license after having allegedly having sex with a student multiple times, according to documents we obtained from the Virginia Department of Education. The documents also state he began following her, watching her boyfriend's house and taking pictures of her.
The documents state she stayed at his house and dozens of text messages were part of the investigation.
The York County Sheriff’s Office investigated and said no charges were filed because witnesses in the case didn’t want to testify.
Documents state the teacher testified at a licensing hearing that he believed the student made the allegations against him because he told her mom she was dating an older man—but in the end, officials voted to take away his teaching license.
Gloucester County Public Schools issued us a statement that read, in part: “There is zero tolerance for any inappropriate relationship between staff and students. Every report is investigated, and when required, it is referred to law enforcement and the appropriate licensing authorities.”
Previous coverage: Inappropriate behavior from teachers can cost them their license
The National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) is a group that runs a clearinghouse that helps identify teacher misconduct, among other things. They found that about 6,000 of the 3.5 million public school teachers get adverse actions taken against their license every year.
NASDTEC assists jurisdictions in understanding and navigating the unique statutes and regulations governing teacher licensure across states, according to their website.
Previous coverage: How schools keep predators out of the classroom
"There are times where if the person will just leave, a school district will drop the investigation. I don't believe an investigation should ever be dropped. If the person leaves, the investigation needs to be completed," said Jimmy Adams, the executive director of NASDTEC.
He added that sometimes, a person will lose a license in one state, then cross state lines and apply for a position that doesn't require a license like a coach, bus driver or cafeteria worker.
Bella Hoffman believes many adults knew something seemed off with her abuser.
"People always heard rumors about him being with students... those were real things that were happening all the time, and yet no one did anything about it," she said.
Previous coverage: News 3 Investigates when Virginia teachers lose their license over serious misconduct
While the vast majority of teachers and employees at schools are wonderful people, devoting their lives to helping kids and educating, the small few that hurt students need to be investigated.
“In Andrew's case, he was winning all of the band competitions. So he was benefiting the school from winning all of these competitions, and being this great public figure in Powhatan—everybody knew him, everybody looked up to him. He was a big member in the church. So he's doing all these great things when behind everybody's back, he is having sexual relations,” said Hoffman.
