Duane C. Johnson turned up in southern Nevada nine years ago, a school recruiter's lucky break. He was a former high school football coach from Utah, game to work with the most troubled students in Nevada. When a job opened at Child Haven, a shelter for neglected children, school administrators did not hesitate to send him over.

Within a year, however, a 13-year-old girl at Child Haven accused Johnson of repeatedly exposing himself and groping her.

Only then, local school administrators said, did they learn what really propelled Johnson from his last job in Utah: School officials there had accused him of impregnating a high school student in her senior year. Although Johnson contended the relationship began three weeks after she graduated in late June, she gave birth to an 8-pound baby in February. An inquiry resulted in the loss of Johnson's Utah teaching license.

"Had I known that, I would never have moved him to Child Haven," said Matthew Lusk, principal of schools for Clark County's juvenile courts. "They're the most vulnerable kids there."

Clark County's experience is hardly unusual. When teachers are accused of sexual abuse, according to educators and law-enforcement authorities, school districts often rid themselves of the problem by agreeing to keep quiet if the teacher moves on, sometimes even offering them a financial settlement. The practice, called "passing the trash," avoids the difficulties of criminal prosecution or protracted disciplinary proceedings.

But districts on the receiving end of such transactions have begun suing the originating districts for civil damages when the teacher abuses again. So have the victims. State legislatures also are starting to crack down, mandating fingerprint and criminal record checks of teachers and offering protection from lawsuits to employers who give unfavorable references.

225 complaints in 4 years

While no central authority tracks the number of teachers accused of molesting in one jurisdiction who then pick up teaching in another, Charol Shakeshaft, a professor of education administration at Hofstra University, studied 225 sexual abuse complaints against teachers made to federal authorities from 1990 to 1994 and found that in only 1 percent of the cases did superintendents follow up to ensure that molesting teachers did not continue teaching elsewhere. In 54 percent of the cases, superintendents accepted the teachers' resignations or retirements.

Of the 121 teachers removed this way, administrators knew for certain that 16 percent resumed teaching in other districts, she found.

Julie Underwood, general counsel for the National School Boards Association, acknowledged that allowing those accused of molestation to leave districts without a mark on their record is morally questionable. But she said school principals often don't have the time required to pursue disciplinary actions.

"It may take an entire week of time at hearings to dismiss a teacher," Underwood said.

The receiving states also shoulder some of the responsibility, educators say. With nationwide teacher shortages, states face pressure to provide credentials to teachers swiftly and may overlook warning signals on employment records.

That explained, in part, how Johnson ended up teaching in Nevada, where he is awaiting trial on charges of felony lewdness with a minor. He has denied wrongdoing. The school superintendent in Provo County, Utah, where Johnson was previously disciplined, did not respond to a request for comment.

Some states taking action

No federal laws bar schools from permitting teachers accused of sexual misconduct in one jurisdiction from resuming teaching in another jurisdiction, but in recent years, state legislatures have moved to address the problem. At least two, Michigan and California, bar school districts from settling charges against teachers by promising to keep accusations of abuse secret.

Largely in response to the abuse problem, 36 states now require teachers to be fingerprinted, though only half of those demand both state and national criminal record checks to license or hire teachers. Twenty-three states revoke a teacher's license automatically for felony convictions involving sex with children.

As of 1998, at least 26 states had passed laws explicitly protecting employers who give unfavorable references from defamation lawsuits. In addition, a national bulletin board, run by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification, lists teachers whose licenses have been revoked or suspended, but reporting is spotty, said Roy Einreinhofer, the association's executive director.

Basing her figures on an analysis of nine independent studies, Shakeshaft estimates that 15 percent of the country's 50 million schoolchildren will be sexually abused by a teacher or other school employee.

Employers refrain from giving negative references, fearing that teachers will sue for defamation. They contend that unless the charges are proven, it is unfair to deprive a teacher of future employment. Though generally unsuccessful, defamation suits are regularly "used as a threat" by teachers accused of abuse, Underwood said.