STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

STANLEY T. HILL, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 83-399

)

RALPH D. TURLINGTON, as )

Commissioner of Education, )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

This case was heard before the Division of Administrative Hearings by its designated Hearing Officer, Michael Pearce Dodson, on May 3, 1983, in Tampa, Florida. The following appearances were entered:

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Stanley T. Hill, pro se

113 Elaine Drive Auburndale, Florida 33823

For Respondent: J. David Holder, Esquire

BERG & HOLDER

128 Salem Court

Post Office Box 1694 Tallahassee, Florida 32302

These proceedings began on February 2, 1983 when Petitioner by a letter filed with the Education Practices Commission requested a formal hearing on the denial of his application for certification as a teacher in the State of Florida. On February 4, 1983 the case was forwarded to the Division of Administrative Hearings for the assignment of a Hearing Officer and the scheduling of a final hearing. At the final hearing Petitioner presented his own testimony. Respondent presented the testimony of witnesses and offered exhibits 1-6, which were received into evidence.

Subsequent to the final hearing Respondent filed a Proposed Recommended Order containing proposed findings of fact which have been given careful consideration here. To the extent that those proposed findings are not reflected in this Order, they are rejected as being either not supported by the weight of admissible evidence, or as being irrelevant to the issues determined here. 1/

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On September 9, 1982 Petitioner filed an application with the Teacher Certification Section of the Florida Department of Education to be re-certified as a teacher in the State of Florida. He was previously certified as a teacher

   in Florida from September 3, 1974 until 1979 in the field of cooperative distributive education. Mr. Hill is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a bachelor's degree in distributive education and he has 20 to 25 hours of credit towards his master's degree in administration Supervision. From 1974 until 1977 he successfully taught school in the Orlando area.

   
   

2. In December of 1979 Petitioner had an argument with his father. During the course of that argument Mr. Hill picked up a 12 gauge shotgun and hit his father in the stomach several times. Petitioner was arrested, charged with aggravated assault, and subsequently adjudicated not guilty by a reason of insanity. The court order adjudicating him not guilty found that

   
   

   "At the time of the alleged offense, defendant's psychological condition caused him to function under paranoid delusions and persecutory relations. He not only had such thoughts and beliefs, but they were held so

   firmly that he was acting upon them."

   
   

   After the entry of that order on March 24, 1980, Petitioner was found to meet the criteria for involuntary commitment to a state mental hospital pursuant to the provisions of the Baker Act. He was treated at G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital until June 1980 and then released to the Peace River Center for Personal Development as a resident there.

   
   

3. In either October or November 1981 Mr. Hill ceased taking the psychotropic medication which had been prescribed for him. By March 1982 he was again readmitted as an involuntary patient at G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital and after treatment there he was released in August 1982 back to the Peace River Center. Dr. M. Saleem Jeewa has been his treating psychiatrist since June of 1980. At the present time Dr. Jeewa prescribes Mellaril, a major tranquilizer, and Pamelor, an anti-depressant medication for Petitioner. Mr. Hill now visits Dr. Jeewa on a monthly basis unless something unusual happens in the interim. Additionally Petitioner attends group therapy three times a week and lives in one of the satellite apartments at Peace River Center. The satellite apartments are an arrangement where three or four patients live together to share expenses and help each other as a peer group. The satellite apartments are not part of a residential facility but are leased out in the community by the Peace River Center.

   
   

4. In April 1983 Petitioner began working at American Building Maintenance, a Tampa janitorial service. His other employment history subsequent to his arrest, but prior to this hearing, includes janitorial work for Goodwill Industries. This employment was terminated when, due to an automobile accident, Mr. Hill was injured and physically unable to perform his job. Prior to that employment he worked for a CETA program where he assisted in locating jobs for handicapped persons.

   
   

5. With respect to Mr. Hill's present psychological state he has no evidence of any thought disorder. His speech is logical, coherent and relevant. He has a fair amount of insight into his own condition and his judgment is adequate. No psychosis is apparent. He continues however to display a mild form of mixed anxiety and depression. At the present time it would be difficult however, for Mr. Hill to handle a job where he is fairly independent, must be flexible with considerable responsibilities and handle a variety of tasks. In order for Mr. Hill to be a successful teacher in a classroom situation with

   responsibility for 15 to 20 children, he would initially need some additional assistance and support over and above that normally required by a new teacher.

   
   

6. It is unlikely that due to Mr. Hill's present condition he would cause any harm or be dangerous to students or other people around him. While it is within the realm of possibility that Petitioner, if certified, could successfully handle the responsibilities of a distributive education teacher, that possibility is not probable in view of Petitioner's present fragile psychological state.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

7. The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties and the subject matter of this case. Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes.

   
   

8. Section 231.17(6)(a), Florida Statutes provides:

   
   

   The Department of Education is authorized to deny an applicant a certificate if it possesses evidence satisfactory to it that the applicant has committed an act or acts or

   that a situation exists for which the Education Practices Commission would be authorized to revoke a teaching certificate.

   
   

   Among the grounds specified for the revocation of a teaching certificate by the Education Practices Commission is that a person is incompetent to teach or to perform his duties as an employee of the public school system, or to teach in, or operate a private school. Section 231.28(1), Florida Statutes (1981).

   
   

9. As an applicant for a permit or license Petitioner has the burden of showing that he meets all the criteria of Section 231.17, Florida Statutes for a teaching certificate. On the basis of the record in this case Mr. Hill has failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he is competent to perform as a teacher of distributive education. While the evidence shows that there is a possibility of his competence, it does not show a probability. Upon the lapse of additional time and the accumulation of a successful employment record in jobs of increasing responsibility Petitioner may later successfully demonstrate his qualifications to be licensed as a teacher. The fact that he has in the past experienced psychological difficulties and continues to receive psychological counseling should not be a barrier to such a showing by Petitioner once he can demonstrate his capacity to assume the difficult responsibilities of being a classroom teacher.

RECOMMENDATION

Based on the foregoing Findings of fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED:

That the State Board of Education as the head of the Department of Education, enter a Final Order denying Petitioner's application for certification as a teacher in the field of distributive education.

DONE and RECOMMENDED this 4th day of November, 1983, in Tallahassee, Florida.

MICHAEL P. DODSON

Hearing Officer

Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building

2009 Apalachee Parkway

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

(904) 488-9675

Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 4th day of November, 1983.

ENDNOTE

1/ Sonny's Italian Restaurant v. Department of Business Regulation, 414 So.2d 1156, 1157 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Sierra Club v. Orlando Utilities Commission, 436

So.2d 383 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983).

COPIES FURNISHED:

Stanley T. Hill

113 Elaine Drive Auburndale, Florida 33823

J. David Holder, Esquire BERG & HOLDER

128 Salem Court

Post Office Box 1694 Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Donald L. Griesheimer, Executive Director, Education Practices Commission

Knott Building

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Judith Brechner, Esquire General Counsel Department of Education Knott Building

Tallahassee, Florida 32301

Docket for Case No: 83-000399

Orders for Case No: 83-000399