Strickland, Hearing Officer, Division of Administrative Hearings, Department of Administration.
For Petitioner: David A. Barrett, Esquire
Whether the teaching certificate of Respondent John Eugene Armstrong should be suspended, revoked or annulled.
The Petitioner Professional Practices Council seeks to revoke Respondent John Eugene Armstrong's teaching certificate based on a recommendation filed September 20, 1976, by Hugh Ingram, Administrator of the Council. The Council alleges that the Respondent is guilty of gross immorality and that he failed to perform his duties as educator as required by Section 231.09, Florida Statutes. Pursuant to the raising of the issue of fairness and constitutional guarantees by the hearing panel of the Professional Practices Council and without admitting the validity of the issue, the Council relinquished jurisdiction of the cause and requested that jurisdiction be assumed by a Hearing Officer from the Division of Administrative Hearings.
The Petition for the Revocation of Teacher's Certificate filed by the Petitioner on October 7, 1976, contended that Respondent John Eugene Armstrong:
"1. On August 16, 1967, at 4:00 p.m. made two threatening phone calls to Mr. Claude
O. Hilliard, former principal, using pro- fane language;
On or about January 14, 1975, made an obscene gesture with his fingers to Linda Rhodes, a student;
On or about June 20, 1975, confronted Mrs. Marilyn H. Bagby, Coordinator EMR, in a classroom and made threatening remarks;
On or about November 10, 1975, entered the girls' locker room when the girls were dressing out for class as observed by Coach Ruth Stevens and Coach Geraldine Williams;
On or about November 10, 1975, in rela- tion to the incident in Number 4, threatened Ms. Ida L. Shellman, Administrative assistant;
On or about December 10, 1975, fondled the upper portion of Gwendolyn Lowe's, a student's, body;
On January 29, 1976, in the presence of Mr. R. L. Ballew, Director, Area I, made accusations against Mr. Milton Threadcraft, principal, in a threatening manner;
On March 3, 1976, struck Lavern White, a student, on or about his neck causing bruises;
On March 12, 1976, struck Johnny Hill, a student lacerating his upper lip;
The Respondent Armstrong was first employed by the Board of Education in the public schools of Duval County, Florida, in 1952. He holds valid Florida Teaching Certificate Number 401436. In 1973 he was assigned to Northwestern High School to teach industrial arts and was assigned to teach classes of educable mentally retarded (EMR) students. He taught special education industrial arts classes consisting of seventh and eighth grade students. Respondent stated that he had attempted to obtain a transfer from the Northwestern School on a number of occasions both because of dissatisfaction with the facilities and because of harassment he received from the administration. He stated that discipline was a major problem among EMR students.
Various witnesses were called to testify and findings in regard to the aforementioned charges are as follows:
The charge that Respondent made threatening phone calls to Mr. Claude O. Hilliard, former principal, using profane language was not proved.
The charge that Respondent made an obscene gesture with his fingers to Linda Rhodes, a student, was denied by the Respondent who stated that he did not know what an obscene gesture meant. The student testified that he "shot a bird" at her and demonstrated by position of her fingers. She was a member of Respondent Armstrong's class two years ago and was advised by her counselor, Mrs. Shellman, to write out a complaint against Respondent. Upon observing the demeanor of the witnesses, I find the Respondent did make such a gesture to Linda Rhodes, a sixteen year old student.
Considering the testimony of the Respondent and of Mrs. Marilyn
H. Bagby, the Hearing Officer finds that Respondent was upset and did in fact make remarks to her concerning a report she made subsequent to her observation of Respondent's teaching and room atmosphere which he had not received and that the witness Bagby was in fact frightened by the presence of the Respondent in her room alone, his close proximity and his tone of voice on or about June 20, 1975. She verbally reported the incident to her supervisors and later made a written report of the incident. Respondent testified that if he threatened her he did not recall it.
The Respondent admitted that he did in fact enter the girls locker room when the girls were dressing out for class on or about November 10, 1975. The evidence does not show that the entrance into the girls locker room was for an immoral purpose although he knew or should have known he should not have entered when the girls were in various stages of undress.
Considering the testimony of the Respondent and Mrs. Ida L. Shellman, Administrative Assistant, concerning the locker room incident, the Hearing Officer finds that by Respondent's presence with his hands in his pockets, his remarks and his general tone of voice, Mrs. Shellman was in fact threatened and frightened. Respondent testified that he did not recall his conversation relative to the incident as being threatening.
The charge that on or about December 10, 1975, Respondent fondled the upper portion of Gwendolyn Lowe's, a student's, body was not proven by the evidence.
The charge is that on January 29, 1976, in the presence of R. L. Ballew, Director, Area I, Respondent made accusations against Mr. Milton Threadcraft, the principal, in a threatening manner. The testimony of Mr. Threadcraft is believable when he testified that Respondent accused him of being incompetent and said that he, Respondent, was not going to put up with it. The remarks of Respondent were subsequent to a commotion in the school room in which wood was being thrown about and the Respondent had taken a student by the arms to discipline him. The principal, Threadcraft, was called by other students to witness the actions of Respondent. Respondent was relieved of his duties for the remainder of the day after a later confrontation with the principal and director. The testimony and evidence supports the charge.
Charge Number 8 that Respondent struck Lavern White on March 3, 1976, on or about his neck causing bruises was proven by the testimony of the student, Lavern White, and also by a fellow student, Johnnie Hills.
Sufficient evidence was not shown that Respondent in fact did strike Johnnie Hills on March 12, 1976, lacerating his lip although the evidence shows that Respondent did use corporal punishment by pushing the student against the wall to discipline him. Respondent attempted to discipline students through physical restraints.
The Respondent was dissatisfied with his teaching position in the school to which he was assigned. He had asked to be transferred, he testified, about ten times in three years. The students were a discipline problem. The method of discipline of the students was to use force which, among other things, caused the students to be dissatisfied with their classwork. Order was not kept in the class and objects were thrown about the class from time to time. The Respondent was feared by some of the other teachers and by some of the students.
From the general comments of the students of Respondent and the adult staff members, it is evident that the classes of Respondent did not reflect an atmosphere for optimum learning. Respondent appeared resentful of his professional status and uncooperative toward the other members of the educational community. He displayed no interest in the education of his students.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Section 231.28, Suspension or revocation of certificates.-, Florida Statutes, provides in part that:
"The Department of Education shall have authority to suspend the teaching certifi- cate of any person for a period of time not to exceed 3 years, thereby denying
him the right to teach for that period of time, after which the holder may return
to teaching as provided in subsection (6); to revoke the teaching certificate of any person, thereby denying him the right to teach for a period of time not to exceed
10 years, with reinstatement subject to provisions subsection (6); or to revoke . permanently the teaching certificate of any person, provided:
(1) It can be shown that such person ob- tained the teaching certificate by fraudu- lent means, or has proved to be incompetent to teach or to perform his duties as an en- ployee of the public school system, or to teach in or to operate a private school, or has been guilty of gross immorality or an act involving moral turpitude,
The Respondent has proved to be incompetent to teach or perform his duties as an employee of the public school system in which he was employed. His acts toward the girl students and his physical handling of the male students show some lack of moral turpitude and incompetence to do the job to which he had been assigned.
Section 231.09, Florida Statutes, Duties of instructional personnel.-, provides in part:
"Members of the instructional staff of the public schools, subject to the rules and regulations of the state board and of the
school board, shall perform the following functions:
* * *
(3) TREATMENT OF PUPILS.- Treat pupils under their care kindly, considerately, and humanely, administering discipline in accordance with regulations of the state board and the school board; pro-
vided, that in no case shall cruel or in- human punishment be administered to any child attending the public schools."
The actions of the Respondent toward the students within his charge do not comport with the above requirement of the statute.
