FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Months after officials learned that a man convicted of child sex crimes was still working as a counselor for Fairfax County Public Schools, a bill aiming to keep that from happening again is headed to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's desk.
In August 2022, officials fired Darren Thornton, 50, from his counselor position at Glasgow Middle School. Thornton had remained employed with the district, even though he had been arrested on child sex charges in Nov. 2020.
Following his charges in 2020, the Chesterfield Police Department was required by law to notify the school district. But it appears the emails sent by the police department bounced back. The messages, obtained by WUSA9 through a Freedom of Information Act or FOIA, were never delivered.
State Bill 821 (SB821), aims to keep what happened in the case of Darren Thornton's employment from ever happening again in the Commonwealth.
According to the introduced legislation, SB821 would require each district's superintendent to identify, update and make current fax numbers, email addresses and mailing addresses available to the Department of Education. That contact information will be used to inform superintendents if a district employee is arrested for a felony or Class 1 misdemeanor, whether that employee is a full-time, part-time, permanent, or temporary teacher or any other employee in any local school division in the Commonwealth. Additionally, the clerk of any circuit court or district court in Virginia may use the contact information following the conviction of a Board of Education-licensed school employee for certain enumerated felonies.
The information will also be required to be sent via certified mail with a return receipt requesting or to the identified fax numbers and email addresses.
"We ought to make the law clear that the Virginia Department of Education is to maintain a public list of where these notices are to go, what email address, what phone number, and then law enforcement is to notify the school division through both email and fax on that list," said Senator Scott Surovell during an interview with WUSA9 in August 2022.
Finally, the bill will require all arresting officers or agencies request in writing that the Virginia Employment Commission provide the name of the current employer of each arrested person for purposes of determining whether such notice is required until July 2027.
Click here to read more about SB921 and its history.
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Darren Thornton stayed on the job for 20 months after he was arrested for soliciting prostitution from a minor.