Bad apples on the rise in Arizona's classrooms

Apr. 4—A Mesa teacher drinking alcohol in the classroom, a Higley High School teacher arrested for improper behavior with a student and a Gilbert Public Schools teacher using inappropriate physical force on a special-needs student.

The three bad apples were among approximately 75 Arizona educators who surrendered their teaching certificates in 2022 for misconduct and faced the state Board of Education. The board is responsible for imposing discipline on educators, certified and non-certified who've committed unprofessional or immoral conduct.

That year also saw the highest number of surrenders since 2012, according to the agency's "2022 Enforcement Action Report," released earlier this year.

The report includes the sources of complaints, discipline by gender, the type of certificates held by the educator and the types of cases.

The report, however, does not break the 2012-2020 data down to the school or district level. (The examples of the teacher misconduct in 2022 came off of the board's agendas for that year).

"This is not data that are currently readily available," said Sean Ross, executive director of the board. "However, our team is working on a project, starting with the 2023 enforcement data, to break it down by county, district and school."

The board is on track to adjudicate at or above 200 cases this year — a projected 264% increase from cases in 2012. The number of enforcement actions taken last year was 172. To date, the board has adjudicated 1,279 cases since 2012.

Enforcement actions in 2021 tallied 146 due to the pandemic and its effect on the scheduling of hearings, according to the report.

And although 2022 saw an increase of adjudicated cases, it failed to meet the projected target because of a lack of assistant attorneys general — positions which the board is working on hiring more.

Assistant attorneys general play a vital role in the adjudication of all cases, especially complaints, application reviews and cases settled by negotiated settlement agreements.

The bulk of the enforcement actions or 61% over the 10 years involved male educators while 39% involve women with no discernible trend seen for that stretch of time.

Nearly a third of the enforcement or 27% was against secondary teachers followed by 19% against elementary school teachers and 18% for substitute teachers, the report stated.

Action involving administrators was 6% and 2% for those with an emergency teaching certificate. Non-certificated educators such as physical education, JRTC and adult education comprise 3% of the cases.

For 2022, disciplinary action against secondary teachers came in at 18%, elementary school teachers, 17% and substitute, 17%.

Educators with administrative certificates saw an increase in enforcement at 9%. Non-certificated educators represented 5% of the cases adjudicated in 2022.

According to the report, sexual misconduct represented over half of the cases for educators holding no certificate, subject matter expert, CTE and secondary teaching certificates.

Fewer educators with substitute, special education, elementary and behavioral-health certificates were involved in sexual misconduct cases.

Disciplinary actions by the board over the 10 years included 489 surrenders of certificates, 210 suspensions, 149 revocations and 102 letters of censure.

The report said that suspensions and surrenders of teaching certificates increased from 2018 to 2020 and revocations increased from 2019 to 2020.

The complaints fall into five categories — sexual offense, assault, substance abuse, fraud/theft and breach of contract.

Of the 1,279 cases, the largest share of enforcement actions involved sexual misconduct at 37% with substance abuse at 22% and assault at 21%. Breaches of contract accounted for 9%.

In 2022, 29% of the cases were sexual misconduct, followed by 27% associated with assaultive behaviors, the report said. Substance abuse cases dropped to 19% while breaches of contract came in higher at 14%.

According to the report the largest source of misconduct reports to the board's Investigative Unit come from school officials at 43%, followed by the Department of Public Safety, 34%.

And 13% of the cases come to the unit's attention from parents, Google alerts and traditional media sources.

School personnel are required to report instances of misconduct to the board's Investigative Unit. The public can submit a complaint at azsbe.az.gov/educator-discipline.

The report noted that the board can only take action against individuals who are employed in a district or charter school in Arizona.

If, for example, a teacher is employed at a private school in the state and commits a violation, the board is unable to prevent the educator from legally obtaining another teaching job in the state, the report added.

To ensure student safety, the board provides a list of educators who were disciplined at its most recent meeting to schools.

And before hiring both certified and non-certified educators, schools are required to check the Arizona Department of Education's public and internal systems for possible discipline or open investigations for immoral or unprofessional conduct.

The board's Educator Discipline Lookup system allows public access and is also used by school districts such as GPS and Higley Unified School District

"We check each certified candidate's certification and look for any possible discipline or open investigations," HUSD spokeswoman Teresa Joseph said. "Once reviewed, a copy is made and placed in the candidate's file."

GPS's spokeswoman Dawn Antestenis said it's a tool the district uses in hiring employees.

"We find it helpful as it notifies us of any criminal or disciplinary history for candidates," she said.

Additionally, the two districts ensure that their certified and classified candidates have a valid IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card and pass a required background check.

The hiring procedures in place for both also include formal interviews, reference and background checks, certification checks and candidate recommendation.