New Hampshire lawmakers are considering restrictions on school districts and their employees in response to a guidance counselor who sexually assaulted a student.
The House Education Committee held a hearing Wednesday on a bill that would ban school employees from providing character references for those convicted of sexual misconduct involving a child.
Republican Rep. Linda Camarota, of Bedford, said she wants to spare other communities the breakdown in community and student trust her town suffered after school employees spoke at a former colleague's sentencing hearing.
[For Some Bedford Parents, Superintendent's Resignation Was Only a First Step]
Former guidance counselor Kristie Torbick pleaded guilty last summer to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student when she worked in Exeter.
Opponents of the bill said it violates the First Amendment right to free speech and would have a chilling effect on the criminal justice system.
—Holly Ramer, Associated Press
