A substitute teacher in Charles County, Maryland, about 30
miles SE of Washington DC, was child with showing sexually explicit materials
to a minor and child pornography possession, with state charges, after having worked
only 34 days. A student reported his
texting of another student, WTOP story
here.
But the incident shows that, despite fingerprint background
checks, it is very difficult for school systems to vet substitute teachers well
before hire. They can look at social
media, but this may run into First Amendment concerns with public
employees. But with substitute teachers principals
at individual schools can ban substitutes under any suspicion whatsoever, and
most school systems have “three strike” rules.
Just as I was typing this story, I learned of a c.p. video
circulating on Facebook from station WJLA7 in Washington,
link. It may have originated in Alabama, but was
reported to Sinclair news in Cincinnati first.
Resharing it is illegal and
could lead to prosecution by federal law. But Facebook is likely to have removed the video
before it gets very far. The WJLA story notes that resending such a video for "journalistic" purposes would not prevent criminal prosecution. But that statement could, by analogy, raise serious questions about citizen journalism in other areas, like terrorism. But possession of a c.p. image is itself a crime; possession of bomb-making instructions is not, although possession of the actual materials might be.
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