California teacher oversight agency left misconduct cases unexamined for years

The LA Times reports that California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which is in charge of revoking teacher credentials, had a backlog of 12,600 cases as of 2009. A state audit has found the agency guilty of years-long delays in responding to allegations of teacher misconduct.

The paper lists a few egregious examples of misconduct cases the agency flubbed:

In one case, a teacher was allegedly seen kissing a student in 2007, but the commission did not contact the school district until 2009. The commission learned that another instructor allegedly showed middle school students pornography in 2008, but did not request police documents until 2010. By then, the vice principal who reported the incident had retired, and a student who saw the pornography did not recall the details, and others could not be found.

The teacher in the pornography complaint went to work in another district and no action was taken, the audit said.