Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A fact-finding panel unanimously has agreed Carol Bracciano should be allowed to keep her job, but the 16-year teaching veteran could be dismissed for alleged instances of insubordination and poor judgment during a probationary period last year.
Virginia Education Association members have become involved, saying it is unfair to overturn that panel's decision.
"To ask the School Board to overturn a unanimous panel decision is, in my opinion, an attempt by the administrator to take complete control of the school system," Bracciano's attorney, Joseph Steffen, said Monday. Steffen confirmed that he was referring to School Superintendent Herman Bartlett.
Based on personnel records supplied by Bracciano, the probation stemmed from an April 1993 incident in which Bracciano, a sixth- and seventh-grade teacher at Auburn Middle and High School, showed slides from a back-country wilderness adventure she had taken the previous semester. Six of the slides showed nude people, mostly men, bathing in a hot spring and sunning on rocks nearby. One photo showed frontal nudity of a man.
Bracciano said the slides showed the importance of cleanliness in the wilderness, but she acknowledged that she may have misjudged the appropriateness of the slides for her students. Her comments were included in a transcript of an August hearing on the issue.
Near the end of the probationary period, Bracciano received a letter informing her of the school's intention to keep her on.
But two months later, principal Robert Miller recommended Bracciano be fired for not following the requirements of the probationary improvement plan. Bartlett supported that decision.
"I've always believed that Mr. Miller had the right based on our policy and our structure to request termination of an employee that is under his direction," Bartlett said, according to the transcript of the hearing.
As part of the probation, which lasted from May 1993 to June 30, 1994, Bracciano had to receive approval on all teaching materials she planned to use in her classes.
Miller and Bartlett say Bracciano used poor judgment when presenting for review two videotapes containing brief scenes showing partial and full nudity, especially because she was on probation for that same offense.
The first tape, a PBS program on blood pressure, showed several men running nude from a sauna into ice-cold water. The second, a program on obesity from a popular news television show, showed a side view of a fat naked man. Bracciano never showed the second video to her class.
Miller and Bartlett also contend that Bracciano was insubordinate because she did not follow her principal's suggestion to electronically edit out the sauna portion of the PBS video. Instead, she manually fast-forwarded through that part of the tape while covering the television screen.
In response to the charges, Bracciano requested that her case be heard before a fact-finding panel, which unanimously concluded that she should keep teaching, but perhaps be moved to another school.
The final decision remains with the School Board. Educators say they're afraid Bracciano will be judged for the original incident involving the slides, for which she already has been punished.
"It's the process we're supporting," said B.J. Mullins, president of the Montgomery County Education Association. "It's our job to protect and preserve the process our employees go through during a dismissal case."
School Board attorney Kimberly Ritchie would not comment on this case Monday, saying she was prohibited from doing so because the issue involves a personnel matter.
"The School Board has the authority to overturn the panel decision, but they would be doing it arbitrarily," said Marshall Leitch, director of UniServ, the district office of the Virginia Education Association. "People need to know this kind of procedural misuse is under way."
Steffen would not comment Monday about his next step if the School Board overturns the panel's decision.
"What I do for Carol Bracciano depends on how they act in there," he said. "If they stick to the improvement plan, and not bring in other material ... it would be extremely unusual, particularly because it was a unanimous decision by the panel, to overturn this case."
by CNB