Complete Coverage

Sex Abuse a Shadow Over U.S. Schools

Mitchell King, right, appearing in court in Wausau, Wis., in 2005, is one of 44 Wisconsin public school teachers who lost their teaching licenses between 2001 and 2005 because of sexual misconduct.

—File Photo by Butch McCartney/Wausau Daily Herald/AP

Investigation examines cases of educator misconduct across nation.

By Martha Irvine and Robert Tanner

Associated Press

The young teacher hung his head, avoiding eye contact. Yes, he had touched a 5th grader’s breast during recess. “I guess it was just lust of the flesh,” he told his boss.

That got Gary C. Lindsey fired from his first teaching job in Oelwein, Iowa. But it didn’t end his career. He taught for decades in Illinois and Iowa, fending off at least a half-dozen more abuse accusations.

When he finally surrendered his teaching license in 2004—40 years after that first little girl came forward—it wasn’t a principal or a state agency that ended his career. It was one persistent...