The Contra Costa Times Editorial Board writes: Brentwood school officials claimed they couldn’t fire a teacher who pulled a 5-year-old student from his chair and kicked him as he lay on the ground. They said state teacher dismissal rules were too cumbersome. They’re wrong on the first point: There was plenty of evidence to pursue a dismissal case against Dina Holder, who eventually pleaded no contest to misdemeanor child abuse for the incident. And there was no rational reason for leaving her in the classroom for 2½ years.

But as the San Jose Mercury News noted, firing a teacher in California can be tough, even if they are imprisoned for child abuse or other types of sexual or drug related misconduct with one of their students.  The average time is usually 7 years.