Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9409290076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, the board will meet again in a week to consider overturning the decision of a grievance panel that ruled Carol Bracciano did not violate the terms of a probationary plan and should not be fired.
"I'm encouraged that the School Board is giving careful consideration to Carol Bracciano's employment, and I have confidence that with further deliberation the board will support the panel's decision to keep her on," Bracciano's attorney, Joseph Steffen, said early Wednesday after the closed-door meeting.
Board members have been instructed not to talk about the case, because it is a personnel matter.
Bracciano, a teacher at Auburn High and Middle School, was placed on probation last year after presenting a wilderness adventure slide show that contained several photos of nude men bathing in a hot spring.
As part of her probation, Bracciano had to receive approval of all teaching materials she planned to use in her classes. Once in January 1993, and again in February 1993, Bracciano requested permission to show educational videotapes that contained brief scenes of nudity. She was told to edit one tape, and not to use the other.
Bracciano did not use the rejected tape. Instead of editing out the offending scene in the other tape, she covered the TV screen and fast-forwarded through the scene.
Four months later, Bracciano's principal, Bob Miller, recommended she be fired for using poor judgment in selecting the two tapes in the first place. He also said Bracciano had not followed his request that she electronically edit out the nude portion of one videotape.
Miller and Superintendent Herman Bartlett say Bracciano's termination is justified. However, Miller didn't document his dissatisfaction with the teacher's performance during the probationary period, and Bracciano insists she complied with her improvement plan.
A grievance panel agreed with her.
Virginia Education Association members say they are concerned that Bracciano is being persecuted for the original incident involving the slides, as well as other problems she has had in the school system involving disgruntled parents and students.
No matter what the School Board decides, the results are sure to be inflammatory. More than 30 teachers showed up to support Bracciano at the hearing Tuesday night, but there were dissatisfied parents there, as well.
"What [Bracciano] did was wrong, not only because she had been told by her supervisor not to [show nudity] again, but because she tried to do it twice," said Bob Mullins, whose daughter was in Bracciano's class the year she showed the slides.
"I also think it's morally wrong,'' Mullins said. ``They've taken the moral aspect out of this and put it into a procedural battle. This is not just a procedural issue."
"The improvement plan is, procedurally, the only issue in this case," said VEA district director Marshall Leitch last week. "The decision is in the breast of the School Board now - we're confident and hopeful that they will make the right decision."
by CNB