A Fairfax County delegate to the Virginia General Assembly said the law that requires police to report the arrest of public school employees for specific offenses may need to be tweaked.

Del. Vivian Watts, whose district includes part of Fairfax County, spoke with WTOP following the discovery earlier this month that a Fairfax County Public Schools counselor remained employed after he had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution because police attempts to reach the superintendent were sent to faulty email addresses.

Watts said “effective action” is likely during the upcoming assembly session to make an addition to the Virginia code, which currently requires law enforcement agencies who arrest a full-time, part-time, permanent or temporary teacher in a Virginia public school system for a felony or Class 1 misdemeanor to “file a report of such arrest with the division superintendent of the employing division as soon as practicable.”

The law, Watts said, may need to include a requirement that school systems verify they received notification of arrests from law enforcement. That way, she said, “the responsibility is clear on the part of the receiving school system to take action. Because if they haven’t received it, unfortunately, it exists in ether.”

“This was most unfortunate, given the years and years and years of attempting to set up this kind of oversight and prevention,” Watts said. “Prevention of any victimization by sex offenders, because once the...

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