Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 14, 2006 HEARING FOR KY TEACHER CANCELED

From the Paducah Sun...

Hearing officer denies Dye request.

By Brian Peach

Suspended Reidland High School teacher Tericka Dye has a decision to make after a hearing she sought was canceled by a state hearing officer on Tuesday.

Parties involved kept their comments to a minimum after the decision was made by Scott Majors — appointed by the Kentucky Board of Education — because he has until noon Tuesday to put his official ruling in writing.

“We don’t agree that the hearing should be canceled, but we’re looking at our options,” said Mark Blankenship, Dye’s attorney. Until the ruling is made, Dye has the option of withdrawing her request for a hearing, which Blankenship said would end the proceeding.

Dye has said she wants to return to teaching and coaching at Reidland High School. She was suspended in late April after an 11-year-old adult film featuring her surfaced and circulated among students and parents.

Blankenship said that while a tribunal hearing couldn’t give Dye her job back, she was hoping it would help convince the school’s site-based council to rehire her. She was suspended with pay by Superintendent Tim Heller, who has no say in school hires.

Beyond saying the tribunal was canceled and an official ruling would be made by Tuesday, McCracken County school board attorney Gorman “Butch” Bradley was reluctant to comment.

Blankenship said he would have more to say after discussing the matter with Dye.

The tribunal was to meet June 19-21 and would have consisted of a teacher, school administrator and someone not affiliated with the school system. None would have been from McCracken County.

On Monday, the second prehearing conference — to determine whether a tribunal would be granted — was stopped and all three parties reconvened Tuesday, when Majors decided to cancel the tribunal. Blankenship said the delay was because he needed to ask Dye a question, which he wouldn’t specify.

Dye had to ask for the tribunal because she was suspended with pay. State law does not cover tribunals under paid suspensions, specifying the need for a hearing only with written reprimands, unpaid suspensions or firings.