More Local

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
• Former Marine to serve two years in jail for killing Albuquerque robber
• Wilson-Pearce battle for U.S. Senate exemplifies party's disparity

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Albuquerque Old Town
• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

State authorities are no longer requiring a guilty verdict before revoking licenses of teachers accused of sex crimes and other misconduct.

The crackdown started this year after the Public Education Department reversed its wait-and-see policy on pending criminal cases.

To date, the department has revoked the licenses of 17 educators and suspended three others, a three-year high.

Ten of the 17 cases involved sex crimes, pornography and sexual relationships with students.

Among those revocations was Ernest Frank Dominguez III, a former Santa Fe and Tucumcari teacher indicted on 43 sex charges involving Santa Fe students. His case is pending in Santa Fe District Court.

"We're more concerned about the students and their safety," said Mary Rose CdeBaca, assistant secretary for quality assurance. "We're pulling licenses sooner than we used to."

In 2005, when The Tribune reported on the Dominguez case, state officials were hesitant to take action against a teaching license before a criminal conviction. Protecting teachers' rights was their priority.

Now, the state Public Education Department is operating under a tougher approach.

Currently, the department's Ethics Bureau is investigating 104 cases of teacher misconduct, CdeBaca said.

Those include 27 cases carried over from 2005. In 2005, 24 of 51 cases were resolved, leaving 27 pending, she said. Only 8 licenses were revoked in 2005; 4 in 2004.

Education Secretary Veronica Garcia recognized loopholes in the licensing system and enacted the new policy after Dominguez's case and others languished in the court system.

Dominguez's teaching license remained valid from May 1998 when he was investigated in Tucumcari until 2006. The indictment pending against him involves allegations made by his Santa Fe students in 2001 and 2002. Santa Fe school authorities were unaware of the Tucumcari investigation, which did not result in criminal charges.

A tougher stance was always possible because the standard of evidence for revoking or suspending a license is not as high as a criminal conviction, Garcia said.

"We've expedited the process," she said, "to protect children. Every now and then we do have predators."

The cases investigated by the department's Ethics Bureau have increased significantly since 2004 when there were only five revocations and one suspension. In 2005, there were eight revocations and four suspensions. The department has plans to add an in-house investigator to handle the increasing caseload instead of hiring private investigators.

"Either we've stepped up or people are misbehaving more," Garcia said.

The system can be tightened up even more, Garcia said, with the passage of an ethics bill that will be reintroduced at the Legislature in January.

The bill would require principals and superintendents to report their investigations of teacher misconduct to the state department. If they fail to alert the department, they'll risk losing their licenses.

The bill is intended to stop the movement of problem teachers around the state.

Garcia said it's widely known that supervisors will ask a problem teacher to resign rather than pursue an investigation into the alleged misconduct.

"If a supervisor engages in passing of the lemons, their license would be in jeopardy," she said.

Currently, districts have no obligation to report allegations to the state department. In some cases, school districts have unknowingly hired teachers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked.

Districts aren't notified of action against a license until after the teacher is on the job. License checks are done by the state department at the 40th, 80th, and 120th day of school, CdeBaca said.

The Dominguez case illustrated weaknesses in the system that allowed him to move around the state.

A Tribune report in June 2005 traced the Dominguez case history and questioned state policy and loopholes that put schoolchildren at risk. State officials responded with the policy change.

"Dominguez is a good example of where the court proceedings go on and on and on and the license is still active," said James Ball, who recently retired from supervising the Ethics Bureau.

Ball said he preferred not to revoke a license until a teacher was convicted in order to protect the teacher from frivolous allegations.

Ball said Secretary Garcia told him to act sooner on cases like Dominguez's.

"I'm comfortable with it until someone is found innocent," Ball said. "I think the department is safe as long as they act in good faith."

Ball's successor, CdeBaca, said if a teacher is found innocent "we can reinstate the license.

"At this point, we're more concerned about the students."