S.E.N. v. Dep't of Educ.

• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
• Writing for the Court: STACY WALLACE, JUDGE
• Docket Number: 651 C.D. 2023
• Decision Date: 28 August 2024
• Citation: S.E.N. v. Dep't of Educ., 651 C.D. 2023 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Aug 28, 2024)
• Parties: S.E.N., Petitioner v. Department of Education (Professional Standards and Practices Commission), Respondent

1

S.E.N., Petitioner v. Department of Education (Professional Standards and Practices Commission), Respondent

No. 651 C.D. 2023

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

August 28, 2024

Argued: May 7, 2024

BEFORE: HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge, HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge, HONORABLE STACY WALLACE, Judge

OPINION

STACY WALLACE, JUDGE

S.E.N (Teacher) petitions for review of the Department of Education (Department) Professional Standards and Practices Commission's (Commission) May 22, 2023 order granting the Department's request for an immediate suspension of Teacher's Pennsylvania teaching certificate pursuant to Section 9.2 of the Educator Discipline Act^[1] (Act), 24 P.S § 2070.9b.^[2] Upon review, we affirm.

I. Background

The facts essential to our disposition in this matter are not contested. The Department issued Teacher's Pennsylvania teaching certificates in 2007 and 2011.

Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 107a, 132a. At all times relevant to this appeal, the Titusville Area School District (District) employed Teacher as an educator. Id. By stipulation, Teacher acknowledged: (a) she was in a romantic relationship with a registered sex offender (Sexually Violent Predator^[3]), (b) she knew Sexually Violent Predator "was a convicted sex offender with reporting requirements," (c) she "allowed [Sexually Violent Predator] into her home" where she resided with her minor daughter, and (d) Sexually Violent Predator was charged with engaging in indecent contact with Teacher's minor daughter. See Teacher's Br. at 30-31.

Because Teacher knowingly allowed Sexually Violent Predator into her home with her minor daughter, the Pennsylvania State Police charged Teacher with endangering the welfare of children pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S. § 4304(a)(1).^[4] R.R. at 107a, 132a. Teacher waived her preliminary hearing on November 30, 2022, and the magisterial district judge bound the charge to the Venango County Court of Common Pleas. Id. at 108a, 133a, 164a-65a.

On February 15, 2023, the Department filed a Notice of Charges (Notice) against Teacher with the Commission. See R.R. at 106a-21a. In the Notice, the Department requested the immediate suspension of Teacher's Pennsylvania teaching certificate pursuant to Section 9.2 of the Act, 24 P.S. § 2070.9b. See R.R. at 106a-10a. Section 9.2 of the Act requires the Commission to:

[d]irect the [D]epartment to immediately suspend the certificate and employment eligibility of an educator indicted for a crime set forth in section 111(e)(1) through (3) of the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L. 30, No. 14), known as the "Public School Code of 1949,"^[5] or the attempt, solicitation or conspiracy to commit any crime set forth in that section if the [C]ommission, after notice and hearing if requested, determines that the educator poses a threat to the health, safety or welfare of students or other persons in the schools of this Commonwealth . . . .

24 P.S. § 2070.9b(a)(1) (emphasis added).

Teacher filed a Response to the Notice and requested a hearing on the Department's request to immediately suspend her Pennsylvania teaching certificate. R.R. at 132a-36a. Teacher admitted she was charged with endangering the welfare of children, which is a crime set forth in Section 111(e)(1) of the Public School Code of 1949, 24 P.S. § 1-111(e)(1). R.R. at 132a-33a; Teacher's Br. at 6-7. Teacher specifically denied, however, that she posed "a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of students or other persons in the schools of this Commonwealth." R.R. at 133a. Teacher also requested the Commission accept an affidavit^[6] in lieu of immediately suspending her Pennsylvania teaching certificate. Id. at 135a.

In response, the Department argued the Commission could not accept Teacher's affidavit because Section 9.2(a)(1)(ii) of the Act prohibits the Commission from accepting an affidavit in lieu of an immediate suspension "when the allegations that form the basis of the criminal proceeding involve sexual misconduct or sexual abuse or exploitation of a child or student." R.R. at 150a-53a; 24 P.S. § 2070.9b(a)(1)(ii).

By order dated March 14, 2023, the Commission scheduled an administrative hearing to receive evidence regarding the Notice. R.R. at 156a. By order dated March 16, 2023, the Commission denied Teacher's request to accept an affidavit in lieu of an immediate suspension. Id. at 159a.

At the administrative hearing, the Department requested admission of the criminal complaints against Teacher and Sexually Violent Predator, as well as documents related to Sexually Violent Predator's previous criminal convictions. Id. at 47a-49a. Teacher objected to the admission of the criminal complaints because they contained hearsay. Id. at 50a. Teacher also objected to the admission of documents related to Sexually Violent Predator's previous convictions because they contained hearsay and because their prejudice "far outweigh[ed] any probative value." Id. The Department responded by arguing the documents were not hearsay because they were "not being offered . . . for the truth of the matter." Id. at 51a. The hearing examiner overruled Teacher's objections and admitted the documents. Id. at 51a-56a.

Before resting its case, the Department presented the testimony of Mike McGaughey (McGaughey), Assistant Superintendent for the District. R.R. at 56a-58a. McGaughey explained that Teacher primarily taught online classes in the District's online education program, which he supervised, from the District's cyber center within its high school. Id. at 58a-60a. Teacher, as a District employee, received annual trainings about reporting instances of child abuse. Id. at 61a-62a.

McGaughey also explained that Venango County Children and Youth Services (CYS) informed the District about allegations it received of Teacher committing an act of child abuse (permitting Sexually Violent Predator to live with her minor daughter). R.R. at 62a. As a result of those allegations, the District implemented a safety plan on March 4, 2022, to keep Teacher from having any unsupervised, in-person contact with students. See id. at 62a-65a. This safety plan required the District to move Teacher's room to a location where District administrators could supervise her and where she could enter and exit the building without interacting with students. Id. On April 13, 2022, after CYS informed the District that it concluded its investigation and determined Teacher committed an act of child abuse, and that Teacher was appealing CYS's determination, the District reaffirmed and reinstituted its safety plan. Id. at 76a.

In June of 2022, the District implemented a new safety plan to accommodate Teacher's decision to teach an in-person summer school class. R.R. at 66a. To ensure Teacher was never alone with students, the District hired a full-time aide. Id. In August of 2022, the District implemented yet another safety plan to allow Teacher to instruct online classes and have no unsupervised, in-person contact with students, essentially returning to the March and April safety plans. Id. at 67a. McGaughey admitted that if the District believed Teacher posed a threat to the health, safety, or welfare of students, it would not have been willing to continue to employ her. Id. at 73a.

After the Pennsylvania State Police charged Teacher with endangering the welfare of children in November of 2022, the District placed Teacher on paid administrative leave. R.R. at 69a. The District changed Teacher's paid administrative leave to an unpaid suspension on December 12, 2022. Id. at 81a-82a. McGaughey admitted Teacher's suspension was not based on any classroom performance-based reasons, but on her arrest and pending criminal charges. Id. at 82a-83a.

Teacher offered the testimony of Frederick Smith (Smith), a high school teacher and President of the District's teachers' union. Id. at 87a-88a. Smith attended Teacher's various safety plan meetings and communicated with a union steward from the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Id. at 89a. Smith was also present when Teacher informed the District of her criminal charges in November of 2022. Id. at 91a. Smith testified that other teachers were aware of the situation involving Teacher and her daughter due to a newspaper article and social media posts, yet none of the teachers expressed concerns to Smith about Teacher's continued employment. Id. at 93a. Smith also testified that he was not "aware of any incidents that indicated that [Teacher] constituted a risk to the safety and welfare of students at school while she continued to work for the [D]istrict between March and November 2022." Id.

The Commission reviewed the record of the administrative hearing as well as the parties' briefs and oral arguments. R.R. at 329a. The Commission determined that admission of documents from Teacher's and Sexually Violent Predator's criminal cases "does not run afoul of the hearsay rule" because "the truth of those allegations is immaterial because the Commission makes no assertion about the educator's guilt or innocence of the charges alleged in the indictment." Id. at 338a. In addition, the Commission opined that "an indictment alone can satisfy both prongs of the Department's burden because the indictment is an 'objective fact' that must be based upon probable cause to believe the educator committed the acts charged." Id. at 337a (citations omitted). Thus, according to the Commission, an immediate suspension of a teacher's certificate is "merely a means of safeguarding the Commission's legitimate interest in removing educators who may constitute a threat to the health, safety or welfare of students, the teachers or the school and in preserving the integrity of the profession." Id. (citations omitted). Alternatively, the...