 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Teacher quits after arrest in DUI case
By BARBARA BEHRENDT © St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2001 INVERNESS -- Lecanto High School teacher Bob Chambers has resigned after he was arrested last month on charges of driving while under the influence and possession of drug paraphernalia. Chambers' departure throws the school's Oracle Internet Academy into limbo. On March 31, after the teacher learned that the school had been awarded a $350,000 grant to start the high-tech computer academy, he went out to celebrate. He crashed his car in Inverness while driving home. A major part of the grant application dealt with who would run the academy. Chambers' credentials apparently were so strong that Lecanto High beat out other applicants to become one of only 31 schools in the state to receive a grant for the academy. Superintendent David Hickey has said that the district worked too hard to get the grant to lose it now and that someone will be found to run the program. And in an unrelated matter, Hickey is recommending that the School Board suspend without pay Merlin Cooper, a teacher's aide who was arrested on forgery and theft charges. Hickey recommended that the district begin the process of firing him. Cooper, 44, faces 33 counts of forgery, uttering forged objects and petty theft. Crystal River police have accused him of taking checks from the purse of a teacher at Crystal River Primary School where Cooper also worked. In an April 11 letter to Cooper, Hickey states that he was suspended with pay until the next board meeting pending the outcome of an investigation into the charges he was facing. The suspension was based specifically on Cooper's arrest, including the charges that he stole from another district employee. "Your misconduct seriously reduces any effectiveness that you may have as an employee of the School Board and provides just cause for dismissal or suspension without pay," Hickey wrote, citing both state law and the district's own employment policy. While Hickey can suspend an employee with pay, only the School Board can suspend an employee without pay, and Hickey wrote to Cooper that he would make that recommendation. Hickey then told Cooper he could address the board on the issue with or without an attorney at their special meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Hickey also said he would recommend that the board begin the process of terminating Cooper and that Cooper would have the chance at a formal hearing if the board agrees to begin that process. Police said that Cooper had taken 16 checks from teacher Cynthia Pate between January and March, cashing them in for a total of about $2,000. A third school district employee in trouble with the law, Crystal River Middle School assistant principal Jeffrey Walz, remained on sick leave Tuesday. Walz was cited March 21 with a count of retail theft after he was found leaving the Inverness Wal-Mart with several bicycle parts stuffed under his shirt. In the case of administrators or teachers, the district decides on its own action against employees charged with a crime, but the state also is informed and conducts its own investigation to determine if any action should be taken against the person's teaching certificate.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
