Teachers who have sex with students would have to register as sex offenders

Becky Harris, candidate for State Senate District 9, speaks to the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board on Thursday, Aug. 21, 2014. (Mark Damon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CARSON CITY — A children’s advocate who helped investigate a teacher sex scandal at a Pahrump high school urged lawmakers Thursday to require those convicted to register as sex offenders and be subject to lifetime supervision.

“I still remember that day I learned there was a sexual predator at Pahrump Valley High School in the spring of 1983,” Terri Miller, now president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Miller said although a 1997 law made it a crime for teachers to have sexual conduct with students, they are not required to register as sex offenders and some have had their criminal records expunged, allowing them to resume teaching or working with youth.

Senate Bill 192, sponsored by state Sen. Becky Harris, R-Las Vegas, and others, would also extend protections to students who are 18 years old, up from 17. The change is intended to protect older students who simultaneously take college classes from predatory educators.

Assembly Speaker John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, who has championed sex trafficking laws, said SB192 puts “life, blood, heart and soul” into what Nevada is trying to do to protect children and students from being victimized by authority figures.

Miller cited a high school coach in Dayton who impregnated a student in 2002 and served five years probation. He also referred to a Las Vegas coach who got a player pregnant and helped her get an abortion. That teacher was sentenced to probation in 2009.

“Both of these cases are significant, not just in their similar victimization outcomes, but neither of these convicted sex offenders were required to register,” Miller testified, adding that both have resumed working with youth.

A convicted offender who has been on supervision said he supports the bill but proposed an amendment allowing nonviolent offenders to petition for release of lifetime supervision after seven years.

The committee took no action on the bill.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901. Find her on Twitter: @SandraChereb.