WCCO Investigates is digging into the process of suspending or revoking a teaching license in Minnesota, as part of a series of stories about laws and policies surrounding grooming. A young woman shared her story of what she says happened to her in high school in hopes of better protecting kids. One of those areas is when action can be taken on a teaching license.  

The band director Hannah LoPresto told police groomed and sexually assaulted her was never charged. He was allowed to resign his position, and still had a valid teaching license. LoPresto worked to get it revoked. 

The Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board oversees all things teacher-related. That includes looking into allegations of a crime connected to a classroom, says Dr. Yelena Bailey, executive director of PELSB. 

"When those investigations are initiated, they're reported to us, they go through their process. A teacher cannot practice in a classroom while that's being investigated. If they're found guilty and they're convicted, then their license is automatically taken away," Bailey said. 

Bailey is also on the board's Educator Ethics Committee. She says if there's not a conviction, there's still a road to discipline.  

"We can still take action. And say we have enough to know this person acted as an immoral character or unethically, then we can revoke their license. We have an ethics attorney that gets files from the district, reaches out to the teacher involved, gathers those materials, they're long case files, and then they come to our committee, who then digs into that, does their own investigation and makes a determination of what form of discipline should or should not happen," Bailey said. 

In LoPresto's case, the band director who she told police groomed and sexually assaulted her, was never charged. Brett Benson denies any wrongdoing. While he resigned his position at school, he still had a valid teaching license. So she took action. 

"I wrote a letter. I attached all the evidence that I had, I attached the police report that I had, and I filed an official complaint. I also  had to sign a form before I submitted that said that I understood that none of this was promised to be confidential," LoPresto said. 

She said the process was hard but worth it to try to protect other students.    

"There were a lot of hurdles in the way and things to have to be brave about and move ahead with anyway, even though it was scary. Even if you have proof that it happened, if there's no conviction, they're not obligated by law to take it away. They still can, but it's at their discretion," LoPresto said. 

Bailey says if there's enough evidence, the committee can recommend a license suspension or revocation. That's what happened in Benson's case. 

"Then we work with the licensee to mediate these things because we don't have the authority to just take action on these licenses, so we often work with them and their legal representation and have to negotiate these things," Bailey said. 

Until a determination is final, Bailey says they can't confirm a case even exists. The process can take time. 

"I tried to make it so clear that all of these things were violated. And ultimately, after nine months, they did move forward with the process to remove the teaching license, but he had the option to surrender it rather than getting it revoked," LoPresto said. 

Benson, who denies any wrongdoing, ultimately did surrender his license.  

"Our job as a board is to make sure that our teachers in the state are serving the interests of these students. Whether they're intentionally causing harm or not, we need to protect them, and so we're taking action," Dr. Bailey said. 

While Bailey says the board does take action, it's not required to. LoPresto wants to change that and reduce the burden of proof for required revocation to include substantiating evidence regardless of conviction. 

"We have a board who, that's their strong belief and conviction, is that if there is substantiated evidence that something has happened, we're taking action regardless of what happens in the court, right? What I think is interesting about that language, or the suggestion, is that they would like to see codified, that the board's required to do that, rather than it being up to them. And I think that that's a fair ask," Bailey said. 

Bailey asked WCCO to connect her with LoPresto so they could discuss her ideas. They've already met, and LoPresto has been invited to speak at a PELSB legislative committee meeting in November.