WASHINGTON, July 26 (UPI) -- Maryland officials say an audit has uncovered 11 convicted sex offenders certified as teachers who remain eligible to be hired by public school systems.
While none of the 11 sex offenders are actually working as teachers, they remained in the state database because of poor communication between the state and local school systems, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The newspaper said auditors last month uncovered a similar problem with the oversight of school bus drivers. In one case, a bus driver was still on the job after failing a drug or alcohol test and being involved in two accidents.
Maryland school officials say seven of the 11 sex offenders remained on the state teacher database because local schools had failed to notify the state of the convictions.
In the case of the bus driver, one school system failed to tell the state that 12 of its drivers had failed drug or alcohol tests, the newspaper said.
