Fired Everett journalism teacher may lose license

Published 11:08 pm Tuesday, January 15, 2008

EVERETT — A fired Cascade High School teacher who helped students produce an underground newspaper could also lose her teaching license.

After terminating Kay Powers in November, the Everett School District filed a report with the state’s Office of Professional Practices, which could lead to the revocation of her teaching credentials.

Superintendent Carol Whitehead said it is her legal responsibility “to report acts that violate the state’s professional code of conduct.”

Union officials said the district went too far.

“It wasn’t enough to get Kay Powers out of the classroom, school and district,” said Mike Wartelle, a representative with the Everett Education ­Association. “Now they want her out of the profession, too.”

Powers, who taught at Cascade for 22 years, appealed her firing and has the backing of the union’s representative council. The district and union recently agreed on a hearing examiner, retired King County Judge Charles Burdell. He will hear her appeal over three days beginning April 16.

Powers could not be reached for comment.

The English and journalism teacher was placed on administrative leave in June and fired in November after a consultant hired by the Everett School District concluded that Powers helped students publish “The Free Stehekin” with district equipment and on school time.

Whitehead cited several findings from the consultant’s report in her termination letter. They include:

Students and Powers in February were told not to use school resources for independent publications.

Powers was told the newspaper must be published outside school hours, away from school property and without the use of school equipment, materials or software.

Powers violated district policies and the superintendent’s directives, helped students violate the policies, allowed a student to skip classes to work on the non-school publication and mishandled money collected by students of the newspaper.

She drove students in her car without parental permission and left students in her classroom unsupervised after school and on evenings and weekends.

Powers didn’t cooperate with the district’s investigation and she violated terms of her administrative leave by communicating with students.

“Each of these reasons, individually and collectively, constitutes a cause for termination of your employment,” Whitehead wrote in the termination letter. “Your conduct constitutes a material breach of your duties and obligations as a teacher and has no positive educational aspect or legitimate professional purpose.”

Wartelle said the hearing is a binding legal proceeding with subpoenas, depositions and cross examinations.

“What we have here is a teacher working hard to educate students, students striving to learn and the district standing in the way,” Wartelle said.

Among other things, the hearing will explore issues such as whether the investigation was fair or “is the disciplinary action commensurate with the alleged offenses?” Wartelle said.

Kim Mead, president of the Everett Education Association, said the union is eager for the appeals hearing.

“We are pleased that a date has finally been set and look forward to this hearing and the full disclosure of the district’s action in this case,” Mead said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or e-mail stevick@heraldnet.com.