Here's a story that points out one of the many holes in our educational system. No one seems to look quite closely enough at new hires. And getting rid of them once they are hired is a real challenge.

Anyhow, a teacher's aide at an area school was arrested for "three counts of second-degree rape, three counts of second-degree criminal sexual act, two counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child." He is alleged to have perpetrated all these crimes upon a fourteen year old child. Terrible right? Disgusting and all that. The school district fired him and rightly so.

Ah, but, here's the catch, guess why- "for lack of required certification to be a teaching assistant". Yup, couldn't fire the guy for being (allegedly of course) a sexual predator, but still working in a public school. Nope, they ditched him because his credentials weren't in order. "During the investigation......(the) school district checked (the suspect's) teaching background with the State Department of Education and learned that he lacked proper certification," a school offical was quoted as saying. Apparently they didn't even look until he was arrested.

At least he's gone.