A Virginia bill that would require police to notify schools when educators are arrested is now awaiting Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s signature.
Its passage follows an incident involving a Fairfax County middle school counselor who remained on the job months after his arrest connected to child sex crimes.
Chesterfield County police arrested Darren Thornton in November 2020 on a charge of soliciting the prostitution of a minor. Thornton continued his work as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School in Fairfax County for 20 months after his arrest.
It was later discovered that attempts made by police to inform the school district were sent to incorrect email addresses.
Virginia Sen. Scott Surovell, who represents part of Fairfax County, introduced the legislation following the incident and received bipartisan support.
The bill will ensure police are able to notify schools within 48 hours if a district employee is arrested for a felony or class one misdemeanor.
It will also require the Virginia Department of Education to maintain updated contact information, including email addresses, fax numbers and mailing addresses. Circuit and district courts would also have access to the information.
“I thought it was very critical that we have all this information regularly updated and published somewhere, so law enforcement can go and see where it is they need to send information,” Surovell said. “I think we’ve built a really resilient system to make sure this never happens again.”
Youngkin has until April 8 to sign the bill, which would then go into effect July 1.
