House members had concerns about a bill that would add teachers who are convicted of having sex with students to the sex offender registry.
Currently teachers or school employees are added to the registry if they are convicted of taking indecent liberties with a student younger than 16. The bill would cover all K-12 students.
Rep. Curtis Blackwood, a Matthews Republican said he was worried about a scenario in which high school students are dating. One student graduates and goes to work for the school.
"He or she is going to be labelled a sex offender for continuing the relationship," Blackwood said.
Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the indecent liberties law includes a provision that the incident is a felony only if the age difference is four years or greater.
"This statute is about a teacher having sex with a student," Glazier said.
More after the jump.
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Rep. Alice Bordsen, a Mebane Democrat, said her hesitation was not based on sympathy for sex offenders. She was concerned about adding more crimes to the registry, which may not keep the pubilc safe as it was intended.
The bill was amended to apply only to felony cases, the ones where the teacher is four years older than the student. The bill passed 112 to 0.
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Re: Sex offender bill raised questions
Rep. Blackwood, This Bill is being proposed to place teachers on the Registry. If the person you mentioned gets a job at the same school after graduation, if they are not a teacher, then it should not apply to them. If they get a job as a teacher then they would will have went to college for at least four years and by that time the person they were dating should have graduated also, unless he is dating a sixth grader. Teachers should be held to the same standard as everyone is a position of trust. Teachers are there to teach not engage in any activity that would place themselves in a position to lose their jobs or be put on the registry.