Over the last few weeks, dozens of teachers and school employees across the nation have been accused and arrested for having sexual relations with their students. In the most recent rash of cases, a band teacher in South Carolina has been charged with taking “indecent liberties” with a student in North Carolina. Last Thursday, a Millville, New Jersey high school math teacher was suspended without pay for reportedly having a four-month long tryst with a 14-year-old student. Investigators were tipped off to the illegal affair after learning that the teacher allegedly took the 14-year-old, and a 16-year-old former student to a motel for a weekend of sex during the Memorial Day holiday.

It seems that one teacher’s downfall is NOT a lesson learned for others, even with the prospect of serious jail time. Parents, school officials, and law enforcement combating the problem say they are running into resistance and can’t get the upper hand, unless there are national legislative changes to get all school systems on the same page. Fed up with a rash of teacher/student sex scandals in his state, Republican Congressman Adam Putnam of Florida co-introduced a bill 2 years ago that would require administrators nationwide to report inappropriate conduct and create a registry of offenders. The House has yet to schedule a hearing on the issue. Congressman Putnam tells Fox News “I don’t know how many more instances of inappropriate conduct we are going to have, that put our kids in jeopardy before we can finally move this legislation. It is vitally important, I believe it is common sense, it’s simple it is cost effective.”

According to Putnam, some school boards and teachers’ unions have blocked legislative efforts to more effectively weed out potential or actual abusers. We approached the National Education Association, which represents teachers, but the labor union declined to comment. While female predators often make news, almost 90 percent of the cases involve males according to a 2007 Associated Press report. The same A-P investigation reveals that nearly 26-hundred school employees were punished over the last 5 years for sexual misconduct with students, ranging from suspension to termination. Some states are taking a proactive approach to this ongoing trend. In Washington state, lawmakers are considering a law criminalizing sexual relations between *any* school employee and student, and Texas passed a law in 2004, that would send teachers who have been convicted of having sex with their students regardless of their age, to prison for up to 20 years. Child psychologists say kids who have experienced sexual molestation, and sexual abuse, are at much higher risk for depression and all sorts of anxiety disorders, and that the teacher student sex trend is extremely troubling. Many parents say they are much more in tune these days to look for signs of trouble, and are keeping a closer eye on text messages and e-mails between their children and teachers who could turn into predators. Investigators agree, a parents watchful eye is one of the most important tools in helping to stop abuse before it starts.