With an increasing number of incidents reported in the news of teachers or school staff members having sex with students, school system officials must rethink their position.

Although administrators cannot prevent accused employees from resigning to avoid an investigation, surely they can refuse to accept a resignation until they have investigated so they can ensure that this employee will not be allowed to work at another school if he or she has so thoroughly violated the trust of parents, students and the community.

The recent allegations of a staff member having sex with male students at Elkmont High School have not been proven, and it is not the place of The News Courier to determine her guilt or innocence. But this is the second case this school year (since August) that we have been made aware of in which Limestone County School system employees was allowed to resign rather than be investigated. (The other person was a male teacher about whom the allegations were not confirmed and thus were not made public.)

In the most current case, an assistant counselor is accused of having sex with senior members of the football team. Some of the parents inquired about filing criminal charges but were told that the boys were too old for the acts, if true, to be considered statutory rape.

While the alleged sex acts may not be considered criminal, they most certainly constitute an abuse of power and a breach of community trust. How many parents of a 17- or 18-year-old truly believe these kids can make adult decisions about sex, especially if a trusted adult is telling them it is the right thing to do?

And the fact that the sex acts take place away from school grounds does not lessen the offense. That teacher or staffer is known to that student as an adult school employee, referred to respectfully as Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So, and the employee is using that school position to manipulate the student entrusted to them.

No matter their age or where the acts occur, these students are likely to suffer psychological affects of such abuse.

What concerns parents, and us, is that because the staff member is no longer a school employee (the school board voted to accept her resignation Tuesday), no further action will be taken in this case. There will be no record of the allegations and no further investigation to see if they were founded. That means she can apply at any other school system and those hiring her will have no idea of any past problems.

This type of thinking calls to mind the priest sex scandals in which church officials knew of the pedophilia but continued to move the priests from church to church to avoid public scandal.

When will anyone stand up for the children?