State probes computer porn

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – The State Department of Education is being confronted with a growing number of educators who are using school computers to view Internet pornography, authorities said.

Keith Potter, an investigator for the agency’s Professional Standards Commission, said of the 18 investigations he conducted last year, eight involved pornography.

“It has been building,” said Potter, who gets called whenever teachers lose their jobs or quit in the wake of possible ethics violations.

“This is not just common to Idaho,” Potter said. “It’s pretty much a national problem.”

Potter, who is a licensed therapist and a former police officer, has seen cases of pornography viewing that border on addiction.

One Idaho teacher stored more than 150 pornographic movies in a school locker and had dirty magazines mailed to him at school, Potter said. Another teacher viewed computer porn while students were in the classroom.

The Legislature recently revised state law to make such behavior a specific violation of the teacher code of ethics and grounds for revoking certification.

Although such cases are rare, the extent of the problem is veiled by concerns for teacher privacy because an accusation alone could destroy an innocent educator’s career.

Many districts have arranged computer experts to watch computers for signs of misuse.

When officials find porn on a computer, the first step is to figure out how it got there. Small files usually suggest the pictures were downloaded inadvertently. But larger files usually have to be deliberately downloaded.

The schools also may use video cameras to determine when a porn site was visited.

After a school takes action, the state commission takes over only if the teacher leaves their job.

Potter said every case he has investigated so far has been valid. But he stressed that although the problem is growing, the number of cases represents a tiny percentage of the total number of teachers.

Last year’s eight Professional Standards Commission reprimands for pornography represent less than 0.05 percent of Idaho’s 16,256 certified teachers.

“From our perspective, it’s very rare,” said Kathy Phelan, president of the Idaho Education Association, the state teachers’ union.

“I know how hard this is when an issue like this comes up because it tends to distract from the very good things teachers do,” Phelan said.