MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Want to know why former Woodbury Elementary School music teacher David C. Allen had his teaching license revoked?

Which teachers got in trouble for looking at pornography on school computers? When?

In Vermont, it’s all online, right there on the state Department of Education’s Web site, under “Disciplinary Actions Against Licensed Vermont Educators.”

Since 2000, the state has posted teacher license suspensions and revocations online, creating a “rogues gallery” that lists each person by name, school, infraction, punishment and date.

Placement is permanent, and while the public posting helps school districts steer clear of troubled teachers, some say it can unfairly taint those whose infractions pale in comparison to those of sexual predators also listed.

Spurred by a series of high-profile incidents involving veteran teachers, the state Board of Education decided to put the information online in the interest of open disclosure.

“The state Board decided they wanted the information public,” said William Reedy, the Department of Education’s counsel at the time, who helped draft the rules for administering the list. “The question was “How much information to make public, and when?’

“On the one hand, you don’t want to destroy somebody’s reputation. On the other, you want the public to be aware of what’s going on in their own schools,” Reedy said.

The Web site’s data were used in a seven-month investigation in which AP reporters sought records on teacher discipline in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Across the country, sexual misconduct allegations led states to take action against the licenses of 2,570 educators from 2001 through 2005.

Young people were victims in at least 69 percent of the cases, and the large majority of those were students.

But inclusion on the web site isn’t just for those suspected in sex abuse cases. Other disciplinary actions against teachers are also listed.

Vermont’s process begins when the state gets a complaint – it could be from a parent, but more typically a school administrator – about a teacher. Then the Department of Education assigns an investigator to look into the allegations and determine whether a broader probe is necessary.

Once the inquiry is done, the education commissioner can opt to close the case or recommend a sanction, which could be as mild as a private reprimand or as severe as revocation. If the investigation doesn’t support the allegation, the case is closed and the accused may never even know a complaint was filed.

If sanctioned, the teacher can accept the punishment or appeal to the Vermont Standards Board for Professional Educators.

The case doesn’t make it to the web site until the case has been adjudicated and the sanction imposed.

“If a case is closed, the law prohibits the fact of the filing of the allegation to be known at all,” said Mark Oettinger, general counsel to the Department of Education. “The only time it gets public is if there’s action taken against the educator.”

He sums up the value of the online postings in two words: “Protecting students.”

“There’s also an efficiency involved. It’s easier for school districts, would-be hiring agencies and employers to get the information quickly and accurately. It’s also efficient for the Department of Education, so instead of doing FOI responses, we can just refer people to the web site,” Oettinger said.

Reaction is swift. Typically, the state begins to get inquiries about an individual as soon as their name is posted.

The range of infractions goes from tax evasion, drunken driving and marijuana cultivation to allegations of sexual misconduct, accessing pornography on school computers and sexual harassment of students.

But the disparity worries some.

“I’ve referred to it as “The Scarlet Letter,”‘ said Christopher J. Cosgrove, a former Rutland Middle School teacher who ended up on the list after accepting a three-day suspension last spring for writing on the face of a sleeping student.

He wouldn’t discuss his case, but he said he didn’t like being listed alongside teachers with far more serious infractions.

“If I’ve got any complaints, one is that some professionals end up on this site for what anybody would agree are relatively minor infractions, such as non-compliance with paperwork provisions, and they find themselves alongside individuals who have committed child abuse and have had improper sexual contact with kids,” said Joel Cook, executive director of the 11,000-member Vermont chapter of the National Education Association, which represents teachers.

“That’s never seemed particularly fair or logical,” Cook said.

AP-ES-10-21-07 1129EDT