STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF ) EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES ) COUNCIL, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 79-1069

)

STEVEN P. LEE, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a hearing was held before Charles C. Adams, a Hearing Officer with the Division of Administrative Hearings, on August 6, 1979, beginning at 10:15 a.m. in Room 510, Richard P. Daniel State Office Building,

111 East Coast Line Drive, Jacksonville, Florida.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: L. Haldane Taylor, Esquire

2516 Gulf Life Tower Jacksonville, Florida 32207

For Respondent: Harry B. Mahon, Esquire

Mahon, Mahon and Farley

350 East Adams Street Jacksonville, Florida 32202

ISSUE

This case concerns a Petition for the Revocation of Teacher's Certificate brought by the State of Florida, Department of Education, through Lynnl Guettler, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Professional Practices Council, against Stephan P. Lee, Respondent, who holds a Florida teaching certificate number 339018, Special Post Graduate, Rank IA, valid through June 30, 1987, covering the areas of social studies and junior college. The allegations of the Administrative Complaint accuse the Respondent with writing one or more notes to Alice Ann Lee during the fall of the school year 1978-79 at a time when Alice Ann Lee was a thirteen-year old student at Ft. Caroline Junior High School, Duval County, Florida. The allegations further assert that Ms. Lee is not a family relation of the Respondent. It is contended through the complaint that in one of the notes the Respondent indicated his apartment address and invited Alice Ann Lee to visit him at that apartment. It is alleged that on one evening during the first nine weeks of the 1978-79 school year, Alice Ann Lee and one Laura Edenfield went to the Respondent's apartment, where he served alcoholic beverages to the two named individuals, at a time, when these individuals were students and had not reached their majority. In connection with events of that evening, the Petitioner asserts that the

Respondent smoked a "joint", viz. marijuana, which the students had brought to his apartment. Finally, it is alleged that the Respondent, through one of the notes written to Alice Ann Lee, invited her to go to St. Augustine, Florida, with him for a "day on the beach and in the shops" and to go "to a nice restaurant for dinner and drinks".

For these acts, the Respondent purportedly has violated Section 231.28, Florida Statutes, in that the conduct alluded to constitutes gross immorality and personal conduct which reduces the effectiveness of the Respondent as an educator. The Respondent is also charged with the violation of Subsection 231.09(2), Florida Statutes, for not setting a proper example for students. The Respondent is further charged with a violation of Rule 6H-1.02(c), Florida Administrative Code, for failing to protect students from conditions harmful to learning, health and safety and with a violation of Rule 6B-1.02(d), Florida Administrative Cede, for conducting professional business in a way that exposed students to unnecessary embarrassment and disparagement.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This cause comes on for consideration based upon the Petitioner, State of Florida, Department of Education, Professional Practices Council's petition for the revocation of teaching certificate of Stephen P. Lee, Respondent. The exact details of that petition are related in the issues statement of this Recommended Order and that account in the issues statement is made a part of the Findings of Fact herein. The Respondent has answered the petition and requested a formal hearing under the provisions of subsection 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

   
   

2. The facts reveal that the Respondent was employed as a school teacher during the year 1978-79 in a position at Ft. Caroline Junior High School, Duval County, Florida. Two of the students who were being taught by the Respondent were Alice Ann Lee and Laura Edenfield. These individuals were students of the Respondent in separate classes. In the fall of 1978, Alice Ann Lee was thirteen years of age and Laura Edenfield was sixteen years of age. Both of the students were attending the ninth grade.

   
   

3. The students in question in the academic year 1978-79 had made a poor academic showing and their attendance record was not satisfactory.

   
   

4. In the first nine weeks of the school year, Alice Ann Lee wrote a note to the Respondent indicating that she felt that the Respondent was a nice teacher and she would like to be his friend. The Respondent replied to that note by a letter, a copy of which may be found as Petitioner's Exhibit #1 admitted in evidence. Beyond that point of the first reply there ensued a series of notes from the student Lee, two or three in number, and three additional notes or letters from the Respondent. Copies of the additional notes or letters written by the Respondent may be found as the Petitioner's Exhibits #2 through #4, admitted into evidence.

   
   

5. In the Respondent's correspondence, Petitioner's Exhibit #2, he mentions his home address and tells Alice Ann Lee that she may call him by telephone when she feels so compelled. That correspondence also tells Alice Ann Lee that she is "welcome to drop by. . ." the Respondent's apartment if she would so desire.

   
   

6. The student, Laura Edenfield, was a friend of Alice Ann Lee, and Edenfield had also been extended an invitation to visit the Respondent at his apartment. To assist the students in finding his home, the Respondent had drawn

   a diagram map directing them to his apartment and a copy of that diagram may be found as Petitioner's Exhibit #5 admitted into evidence.

   
   

7. The students acted on Respondent Lee's invitation and called him one Friday night during the fall term of 1978-79. The call was made while the Respondent was at home in his apartment and the Respondent indicated that it would be acceptable if Alice Ann Lee and Laura Edenfield came to visit him on that evening.

   
   

8. The students arrived at the Respondent's apartment between eight and nine p.m. on the night referred to above. The visit lasted until approximately midnight. While the students were in the apartment, the Respondent asked them if they would like to have a drink and among the choices offered were alcoholic beverages, to include beer and bourbon. Respondent recognized that the students were minors and not entitled to consume alcoholic, notwithstanding the fact that both students had previous experiences with alcoholic beverages before this occasion. The conversation between the Respondent and the students was social in nature as opposed to tutoring for school work or counseling.

   
   

9. At one point during the visit, the Respondent put his arm around the shoulders of Alice Ann Lee.

   
   

10. Alice Ann Lee consumed a number of glasses of bourbon which glass the Respondent continued to fill when the contents would be consumed. Laura Edenfield drank five or six containers of Coors beer.

    
    

11. When the students left the apartment, Alice Ann Lee was inebriated and Laura Edenfield, who was driving, had less control of her faculties than when she entered the apartment. The Respondent walked the girls to their car and kissed Alice Ann Lee on her lips.

    
    

12. The students returned to the Respondent's apartment on the next day, arriving between eight and nine p.m. and staying until approximately midnight. While at the apartment, the students consumed more alcoholic beverages, namely, beer. In addition, the students had brought marijuana with them to the apartment and offered the Respondent the opportunity to smoke the marijuana with them. The Respondent agreed and the students smoked the marijuana.

    
    

13. Again, the nature of the conversation was as stated in discussing the first visit made by the students to the Respondent's apartment.

    
    

14. Subsequent to these visits, Alice Ann Lee's mother discovered some of the letters which the Respondent had written her daughter, and in the course of attempting to have her daughter readmitted from a suspension situation, revealed the existence of these letters to the principal of Ft. Caroline Junior High School. This information was imparted in November, 1978. Alice Ann Lee's mother also went on a local television station news program at six p.m. and made comments about her daughter's relationship with the Respondent concerning the letters, etc.

    
    

15. A knowledge of the circumstances of the relationship also was gained by students in the school and by faculty members and Alice Ann Lee felt embarrassed by the situation and missed classes as a result of the circumstances; however, Ms. Lee does not feel that the situation affected her overall classroom performance.

16. The Respondent also asked Alice Ann Lee to go to St. Augustine, Florida, with him and the details of this proposed trip are set out in the Petitioner's Exhibit #4, one of the aforementioned notes from the Respondent to Alice Ann Lee. They did not make such a trip.

    
    

17. After being confronted with the accusation concerning the letters and the visits by the students to his apartment, the Respondent tendered his resignation to the Duval County School Board without the necessity for further investigation by that body. The Respondent's explanation of this matter, which was offered in the course of the administrative hearing, was to the effect that be had no immoral or inappropriate intentions in his relationship with the students, particularly Alice Ann Lee. He stated that he was attempting to counsel troubled youngsters who had not been reached by other methods of counseling. He also stated that after conferring with members of his family and the faculty, he determined to write the letters in the fashion that he did, hoping to discourage Alice Ann Lee's infatuation by scaring her through proposals which made it appear that he was interested in her romantically. In retrospect, the Respondent indicated that he felt that his approach was wrong and that he did not have the necessary qualifications to undertake counseling directed to these young people.

    
    

    CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

    
    

18. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties to this cause.

    
    

19. After considering the facts herein, it is concluded as a matter of law that the acts of the Respondent through comments made in the correspondence from the Respondent to Alice Ann Lee and the actions of the Respondent in the two visits to his apartment and the publicity of those matters received in the school and in the community, demonstrate that the Respondent is guilty of gross immorality and personal conduct which reduces his effectiveness as an educator, both of these conditions as described in Subsection 231.28(2), Florida Statutes. These actions by the Respondent additionally show that the Respondent has failed to set a proper example for students in his classes, as required by Subsection 231.09(2), Florida Statutes. Further, the actions of the Respondent as described herein, show that the Respondent has failed to protect students from conditions harmful to learning, health and safety within the meaning of Rule 6B-

1.02 (c), Florida Administrative Code. Finally, the actions of the Respondent show that he has conducted professional business in a way that exposed students to unnecessary embarrassment and disparagement, as described in Rule 6B-1.02(d), Florida Administrative Code. For all these violations, the Respondent is subject to the penalties found in Section 231.28, Florida Statutes.

RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the teaching certificate of the Respondent, Stephen

P. Lee, be suspended for a period of two (2) years.

DONE AND ENTERED this 5th day of September, 1979, in Tallahassee, Florida.

CHARLES C. ADAMS

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

COPIES FURNISHED:

L. Haldane Taylor, Esquire 2516 Gulf Life Tower Jacksonville, Florida 32207

Harry B. Mahon, Esquire Mahon, Mahon and Farley

350 East Adams Street Jacksonville, Florida 32202

Dr. Juhan Mixon

Professional Practices Council Room 3, 319 West Madison Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

================================================================= AGENCY FINAL ORDER

================================================================= BEFORE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF FLORIDA

IN RE: STEPHEN P. LEE CASE NO. 79-1069

/

ORDER

THIS CAUSE came on to be heard before the State Board of Education, duly assembled, upon the Petition of Lynnl Guettler, as Chairman of the Professional Practices Council, for the revocation of the teacher's certificate of the Respondent, STEPHEN P. LEE, Department of Education Certificate Number 339018.

This Board having reviewed the findings and the recommendations of the Division of Administrative Hearings Hearing Officer and further having reviewed the entire record; and the Board having had due deliberation thereon, the Board makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

The Respondent presently hold Florida Teacher's Certificate' Number 339018 valid until the 30th day of June, 1987. The Board adopts the Recommended Order

of the Hearing Officer as its own, made a part hereof by reference, except for the penalty stated therein.

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law within the Hearing Officer's Recommended Order are hereby adopted and that the teacher's certificate of the said STEPHEN P. LEE, Respondent, Department of Education Number 339018, be and the same is hereby revoked for a period of ten years commencing December 4, 1979, as provided in 23l.28, Florida Statutes.

DONE at the State Board of Education meeting in open session at Tallahassee, Florida, on the 4th day of December, 1979.

EXECUTED AND RENDERED on 4th day of December, 1979.

Bob Graham, Governor; Chairman

George Firestone, Secretary of State

Jim Smith, Attorney General

Gerald A. Lewis, Comptroller

Bill Gunter, Treasurer (absent)

Ralph D. Turlington, Commissioner of Education, Secretary-Executive Officer

Doyle Conner,

Commissioner of Agriculture

As and constituting the State Board of Education of Florida as assembled for the purposes herein.

Duly recorded in the official records of the State Board of Education of Florida.

I HEREBY CERTIFY that copies of the foregoing Order in this matter were mailed to Harry B. Mahon, Esquire,

L. Haldane Taylor, Esquire, Mr. Charles C. Adams, Dr. Ted Starnes on this 4th day of December, 1979.

Hugh Ingram, Administrator Professional Practices Council

Docket for Case No: 79-001069

Orders for Case No: 79-001069