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By Marie Leech (2010)
The firing of a Baldwin County science teacher and coach is the first action taken under a new state law that allows for quick dismissal of teachers convicted of sex offenses.
Bryan C. Pettibone, a 36-year-old teacher and boys' basketball coach from Central Baldwin Middle School, was convicted in May on four counts of enticing a child for immoral purposes, one count of attempted sexual abuse, three counts of sexual abuse and four counts of harassment. His victims were all 13 or 14 years old. Last week, Pettibone's teaching certificate was revoked, his employment terminated and all payments to him stopped, said state schools Superintendent Joe Morton.
"Let this serve notice to any potential wrongdoer -- we will act quickly and decisively to revoke the certificates of these dangerous criminals," he said. "Taxpayers should not tolerate, much less subsidize, the payment to any education employee convicted of these types of crimes."
Before the Fincher Act took effect March 31, teachers were allowed an arbitration hearing to appeal their firing and continued receiving their regular paychecks until the hearing.
The Alabama Tenure Law protects tenured teachers from unfair termination, and requires that the employee continue being paid until an employment appeal is heard and decided by an arbitrator.
Charlene Schmitz was the perfect example. The former reading teacher from Washington County is serving 10 years in federal prison in Florida for luring a student for sex.
Three weeks after her 2008 conviction, the school board sent the tenured teacher a notice of its intent to fire her, but her attorney appealed the firing.
During that appeal period, Schmitz continued to receive a paycheck and drew more than $140,000 in pay after her conviction. She has since stopped receiving her check and had her license revoked after the state Department of Education conducted her revocation hearing via video teleconference.
"The situations that led to this legislation revealed that our Teacher Tenure Law and Fair Dismissal Act in Alabama are not perfect, and in most cases, they are not even close to being perfect," said Rep. Chad Fincher, R-Mobile, for whom the law is named. Fincher introduced the legislation in response to the Schmitz case.
"This legislation will not fix all the problems with our Teacher Tenure Law and Fair Dismissal Act, but it starts the process," he said. "It gives us hope that we can work on future legislation to stop the waste of future taxpayer dollars."
Morton said that while it's important to defend the rights of educators, those convicted of "these heinous offenses" must be removed from teaching immediately.
"The safety and security of our children are the only elements more important than a quality classroom education," he said. "Parents trust us as educators and administrators to make sure their children are in a safe learning environment, free from those who seek to do our children harm."
Morton said other parts of Alabama's Tenure Law also should change.
"The whole arbitration hearing -- OK, we tried it. There's no shame in admitting we made a mistake and it didn't work," he said.
The hearings, he said, are done with out-of-state arbitrators who work with teachers' unions and therefore are biased.
"It's an unworkable system, and we end up getting crazy rulings," said Larry Craven, general counsel for the state Department of Education.
If the employee loses, he can appeal to the Circuit Court, and then again to the Court of Appeals, Craven said, meanwhile still drawing a paycheck. The Fincher Act applies only to sex offenders; those convicted of other types of offenses are still paid during the appeals process.
"There is no incentive for them to resign or surrender their certificate," Craven said. "It could take one to three years to settle it."
In the meantime, school officials say, the Fincher Act is a step in the right direction.
Gov. Bob Riley said the provisions in the Fincher Act strengthen the state's ability to keep children safe and "halt senseless payments to convicted offenders."
"The kinds of monstrous offenses specified in the Fincher Act will not be tolerated," Riley said. "I believe wholeheartedly that parents, teachers and all responsible adults must come together on this effort to protect Alabama's children from those who seek to do them harm."
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Copyright Marie Leech