LOS ANGELES – The saga surrounding the Los Angeles Unified School District’s “teacher jail” was updated last week with fresh statistics on allegations of educator sexual misconduct and other misdeeds.

According to LA School Report:

As of July 1, a total of 174 district employees, the vast majority of them teachers, have been taken out of classrooms, awaiting the results of an investigation into charges. The total includes 65 accused of questionable sexual abuse or harassment, about 37 percent, while the rest face accusations on a variety of other issues, including 55 (or 32 percent) who have been cited for violent acts.

The total reflects 151 certificated employees and 23 classified, such as teacher assistants, library aides, janitors and other support staff.

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The data shows the significant improvement district officials have made in weeding out dangerous educators by ramping up the pace of investigations. The peak number of educators removed from the classroom for alleged bad acts occurred in April 2013 with 322 teachers.

A breakdown shows 65 classroom staff were removed based on sexual abuse or harassment allegations, 62 of which involve minors. Alleged violent acts forced the removal of 55 educators, while “another 14 people were removed in each of two infraction categories – ‘inappropriate language’ and ‘below standard performance,’” according to the site.

The concentrated focus on removing dangerous teachers started under former superintendent John Deasy after major sexual abuse scandals by teachers against students at Telfair and Miramonte elementary schools in 2013. The school district paid $139 million to the victims of a Miramonte teacher after officials failed to heed warnings of his sickening sexual exploitation of students.

Deasy set up the district’s Student Safety Investigative Team with seven investigators in January 2014, and that staff has increased to 15 as they’ve broadened their focus on a wider range of alleged violations, according to LA School Report.

Teachers who are pulled from the classroom typically receive pay while they stay home, or loaf around a district holding facility during the school day.

From LA School Report

“The district continues to deal with the housed teachers situation as quickly as possible, and they have expanded the staff and the scope for the investigations,” LAUSD spokeswoman Shannon Haber said. “As of July 1, the SSIT is investigating all sexual and nonsexual allegations which have resulted in the teachers being reassigned.”

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The teacher jail has been a sore issue with United Teachers Los Angeles, the district teachers union, which has attempted to push for a more lenient system. The union wrote in a recent statement that “the ‘teacher jail’ system that ballooned under former Superintendent John Deasy was broken.

“In our collective bargaining agreement with LAUSD, important changes were made that protect both students and due process rights of educators,” the statement read, according to the site.

“Allegations that do not involve safety should not result in an educator being removed from the classroom – a move that is disruptive to students,” it continued. “Unfortunately educators have been stuck in ‘teacher jail’ over concerns about field trips and science experiments, or for simply questioning a principal’s decisions. We are hopeful that the changes we negotiated will put an end to these practices.”

The new statistics, released to LA School Report, come as LA attorney Mark Geragos filed a claim against the district as notice of a class-action lawsuit that will reportedly involve thousands of current and former educators removed from their classrooms, the Los Angeles Times reports.

That lawsuit centers on the world-famous educator Rafe Esquith, who taught at Hobart Boulevard Elementary School until he was removed from the classroom in March over comments he allegedly made to students.

According to the L.A. Times, Esquith “said he quipped with students that if he could not raise enough money for the annual Shakespearean play, they would all have to perform their parts naked like the king in Mark Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’”

Another teacher complained about the remarks, and though Esquith’s principal assured him it wasn’t a big deal, he was removed two months before school let out and remains under investigation.

“We overreact to everything. That’s the American way and I’m a victim of that overreaction,” Esquith told the news site. “I want to fix the system. I want to make sure that teachers do not have to go through the same thing I went through.”

Esquith’s attorney, Mark Geragos, said investigators also targeted the teacher’s nonprofit, Hobart Shakespeareans, which takes students on field trips and helps them prepare for the SAT.

“It’s clear that the initial allegation was this Mark Twain passage … they realized they hit a dry hole on that and now they are doing anything and everything to come up with something to justify this because they realize that they have egg on their face,” Geragos told the L.A. Times.