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Professional Standards Commission v. Valentine8/27/2004
Following the superior court's reversal of its decision to suspend the teaching license of Mitchell Valentine for a six-month period, the Professional Standards Commission (PSC) appeals, contending that the superior court failed to both give appropriate deference to PSC's findings of fact and to use the appropriate standard of review. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.
The record shows that, on October 16, 2001, the PSC entered an order reprimanding Valentine for a DUI arrest and subjecting him to monitoring for a period of one year. During this year, Mitchell was involved in two verbal altercations on school grounds: one with a cafeteria manager on February 14, 2001, over food prices and one with a student on May 11, 2001, after avoiding a car crash with that student. The local school system reprimanded Valentine for both incidents and suspended him without pay for five days as a result of the second incident. The matter was subsequently referred to the PSC, and after a hearing, the PSC determined that, as a result of the altercations, Valentine violated Standard 10 of the Commission's Code of Ethics and suspended Valentine's teaching certificate for a period of one year.
PSC Rule 505-6-.01 (3) (j) provides:
Standard 10: Professional Conduct - An educator should demonstrate conduct that follows generally recognized professional standards. Unethical conduct is any conduct that seriously impairs the certificate holder's ability to function professionally in his or her employment position or conduct that is detrimental to the health, welfare, discipline, or morals of students (inappropriate language, physical altercation, inappropriate discipline, etc.).
Following the PSC's initial decision, Valentine requested a review of the matter before an administrative law judge (ALJ). After a full evidentiary hearing, the ALJ found that Valentine "did violate the PSC Rules and should be disciplined by a suspension of his Georgia Educator's Certificate upon the grounds that committed a violation of PSC Rule 505-6-.01 (3) (j)."
In reaching this conclusion, the ALJ made explicit findings of fact regarding both of Valentine's verbal altercations. With regard to the first altercation, the ALJ found:
On or about February 14, 2001, [Valentine] and the cafeteria manager got into a verbal disagreement about the changing prices of food items. [Valentine] went to complain to the principal about the situation. Upon reaching the principal's office, [Valentine] and the cafeteria manager were stopped by the assistant principal, and asked to enter into the office to discuss the matter. [Valentine] was upset and was loudly complaining about the behavior of the manager. The cafeteria manager was excused from the office. [Valentine] expressed his desire to leave several times. The assistant principal, however, refused to allow [Valentine] to leave. [Valentine] used profanity in frustration, in the presence of the assistant principal. No students were present. The local school system issued a letter of reprimand to [Valentine] dated March 5, 2001.
In addition to these facts, it is undisputed that, prior to going to the assistant principal's office, Valentine confronted the cafeteria manager in her office and began using profanity. Students passing through the cafeteria line stopped to listen to the argument. In addition, while in the assistant principal's office, Valentine threatened the assistant principal that if he did not move away from the door to allow Valentine to leave, he would physically move the assistant principal.
With regard to the second verbal altercation, the ALJ found:
On May 11, 2001, [Valentine
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