Bankbridge Regional School Teacher Melts Down – No Tenure Charges Filed [POLL]

Before we knew of the plight of Akian Chafeitz, there was the story
of Bankbridge Regional School teacher Steven Roth — who was videotaped verbally bullying a student.

Judge for yourself in this video as to whether tenure charges should have been filed immediately:

You may find it disturbing that according to the report

Administrative Law Judge Jeff Masin has ruled that even though Bankbridge Regional School teacher Steven Roth "engaged in conduct unbecoming a public employee, conduct that was intimidating and bullying," removal of his tenure is not warranted.

Masin did order, however, that Roth should forfeit 120 days pay and be suspended for the remainder of the current school year; receive no raise for the following two school years; complete, at his own expense, anger management training selected by the board of education and issue a written apology to the board, student Julio Artuz, his parents and other students who were present in the class.

The ruling states that if Roth fails to complete the required training by the end of December, his tenure will be terminated.

Following the Office of Administrative Law decision — dated last Friday — the district has released a statement that it "respectfully disagrees with the recommendation of Judge Masin to permit Steven Roth to retain his job after serving a suspension for the remainder of the school year."

In reponse to this and the Akian Chafeitz case, our own Kevin McArdle reports
that State Senator Diane Allen is proposing legislation that will speed the disciplinary process for teachers and other school officials found to have engaged in bullying, intimidation, or harassment of students.

Under the bill reported incidents of bullying by teachers must be investigated by the school’s anti-bullying specialist within four to ten days. If evidence is found to substantiate the accusation, the school’s superintendent must immediately report said finding to the district’s board of education, and tenure charges must be filed by the board against the employee within three days.

In the case of a non-tenured employee, substantiated misconduct would result in immediate termination and revocation of his or her state certifications.

Allen says the entire investigation should take no longer than 6 weeks.

Two part question:
1) What took so long?
2) Is the administrative law judge’s decision in the Roth case off base?

You be the judge: