MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The legal precedent to protect Alabama children and stop payment to teachers convicted of the most heinous crimes is finally being realized. Act No. 2010-264 (Fincher Act), passed in the 2010 legislative session, mandates the immediate revocation of the teaching certificate and the immediate cancellation of the employment contract of any person convicted of a crime enumerated in the Fincher Act.
In the first such case since the Fincher Act went into effect on March 31, 2010, State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton has revoked the teaching certificate of Bryan C. Pettibone, a 36-year-old science teacher and boys' basketball coach from Central Baldwin Middle School (Baldwin County). Pettibone was arrested in February of 2009 (prior to the adoption of the Fincher Act) and charged with four counts of enticing a child for immoral purposes, one count of attempted sexual abuse, three counts of sexual abuse, and four counts of harassment. His victims ranged from 13 to 14 years of age. Pettibone was subsequently convicted of these charges on May 11, 2010.
Under the previous legal restrictions, Pettibone was protected by the Teacher Tenure Act, whereby his immediate termination was prohibited. As a result, Pettibone has been on paid leave and has received more than $65,000 in salary since his arrest in 2009. Now, due to amendments to the Teacher Tenure Act made possible by the Fincher Act, Pettibone’s certificate has been revoked, his employment terminated, and all funds to him have stopped.
Superintendent Morton said that although the rights of all educators must be defended, individuals must be removed from teaching upon conviction of these heinous offenses. “The safety and security of our children are the only elements more important than a quality classroom education. Parents trust us as educators and administrators to make sure their children are in a safe learning environment, free from those who seek to do our children harm,” Morton said. “Background checks and fingerprinting of everyone who has unsupervised access to our children was a start, but the Fincher Act makes a conviction the trigger to stop any additional pay and immediately remove the individual convicted of the most serious crimes from Alabama classrooms.”
Governor Bob Riley said the provisions of the Fincher Act strengthen the state’s ability to keep Alabama’s children safe and halt senseless payments to convicted offenders.
“The kinds of monstrous offenses specified in the Fincher Act will not be tolerated. I believe wholeheartedly that parents, teachers, and all responsible adults must come together on this effort to protect Alabama’s children from those who seek to do them harm,” Riley said.
Morton also noted that several other aspects of the Teacher Tenure Act and Fair Dismissal laws must be reevaluated in order to make sure that the safety and quality of Alabama students are never compromised.
The Fincher Act bears the namesake of Representative Chad Fincher, R-Mobile (102nd District), who introduced the bill. Fincher said the bill was inspired by the case of Charlene Schmitz, a Washington County teacher who continued to draw more than $140,000 in pay after she was convicted of luring a student for sex. Because Schmitz was sentenced to ten (10) years in prison and was incarcerated in a Florida penitentiary, the SDE conducted its revocation hearing via video teleconference in order to provide her with due process rights and to end the case.
“The situations that led to this legislation revealed that our Teacher Tenure Law and Fair Dismissal Act in Alabama are not perfect and in most cases they are not even close to being perfect. This legislation will not fix all the problems with our Teacher Tenure Law and Fair Dismissal Act but it starts the process,” Fincher said. “It gives us hope that we can work on future legislation to stop the waste of future tax dollars. By the passage of this legislation, it has shown that we can do better and the people of Alabama expect us to do better.”
State Board of Education Vice President Randy McKinney (District 1) said the actions authorized by the Fincher Act will save much needed funds in public education, and more importantly, protect children from unthinkable harm. “We owe it to the parents and the students of this state to do everything within our power to make sure we keep these kinds of criminals away from our children,” McKinney said. “One person with despicable intentions is one too many. We will do all we can within the reach of the law to keep our schools safe.”
“Let this serve notice to any potential wrongdoer – we will act quickly and decisively to revoke the certificates of these dangerous criminals,” Morton said. “Taxpayers should not tolerate, much less subsidize, the payment to any education employee convicted of these types of crimes.”
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