Wisconsin educators convicted of inappropriate relationships or abuse of students often plead down from more serious charges and rarely serve more than a year in prison, a USA TODAY NETWORK investigation has found.
Three recent cases near Fond du Lac, Green Bay and Milwaukee illustrate how plea deals lead to lesser penalties. Several more cases of teacher misconduct involving sexual allegations over the last decade show a similar trend, based on a database of all Wisconsin teachers whose licenses were revoked.
The findings are part of USA TODAY NETWORK’s ongoing nationwide investigation of how states handle teacher misconduct.