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Teachers Tied to Fraud Face Firing: Thirty Miami-Dade Teachers Will Likely Be Fired for Buying Bogus Educational Credentials

Posted on: Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Matthew I. Pinzur, The Miami Herald

Feb. 28--Thirty Miami-Dade teachers implicated in last year's transcript-buying scandal will likely be fired next month, senior school district officials told The Miami Herald.

More than a dozen others have already resigned or retired, 49 more are still being investigated and nearly 300 others are receiving letters this week indicating they will be examined in the second phase of the probe, according to Ronda Vangates, assistant special counsel to Superintendent Rudy Crew.

Officials in Broward indicated they were starting a similar inquiry into teachers who bought phony continuing-education credits. State law requires public school teachers to earn six continuing-education credits every five years to maintain their licenses.

Moreover, state prosecutors are investigating three other people -- all current or former Miami-Dade teachers -- suspected of helping run the scheme.

"We're very pleased that we're beginning to get to the bottom of a very deep and dark well," said Crew spokesman Joseph Garcia. "We're not going to have teachers who have defrauded the public and defrauded children in the classroom."

The 30 firings, which require the School Board's approval at its March 15 meeting, are the first to come from a six-month investigation into a scam run by former Palmetto Senior High teacher William McCoggle.

Most of the 30 teach either driver's education or physical education; their names will be released by next week.

They would be terminated immediately upon the board's approval. Top district officials are meeting today to develop a plan to have replacements start the following morning.

McCoggle claimed to offer the continuing-education classes through a company called Moving on Through Education and Training (MOTET). But when he pleaded guilty to fraud in November, he admitted he did little more than sell transcripts, requiring no tests, homework or other academic work.

McCoggle's attorney did not return calls Monday.

New criminal charges may be brought against two former teachers and one current one, who Vangates said called themselves "adjunct professors" while helping McCoggle run MOTET. Their names have not been released, but the current teacher has been temporarily reassigned to an administrative job until the investigation concludes.

A fourth former teacher who also worked with McCoggle has since died, Garcia said.

Prosecutors confirmed they were investigating more people in the MOTET case but would not comment further.

McCoggle offered the credits through deals with various out-of-state universities; the first phase of the school district investigation focused on 106 teachers who bought transcripts through MOTET from Eastern Oklahoma State College. Of those 106:

-- 30 will be recommended for firing.

-- 14 have resigned or retired.

-- 29, who were found to have bought credits but never submitted them for recertification, are being reviewed under the district's ethics rules. Crew has pledged to fire anyone who "fraudulently obtained credits through MOTET and/or used those credits to obtain certification, recertification and/or endorsement."

-- 20 claim to have taken actual classes from the adjunct professors, who have not spoken to district investigators because they are still under criminal investigation. Those 20 teachers remain in the classroom, and their cases will be frozen until the MOTET instructors are interviewed.

-- 13 were cleared; Vangates said McCoggle forged applications in their names in order to receive reimbursements from Eastern Oklahoma State.

Broward has opened an investigation into nine of its teachers who Eastern Oklahoma State said received credits through MOTET.

"We're trying to move on it as quickly as possible," said Joe Melita, Broward's executive director of Professional Standards and Special Investigative Unit.

According to Miami-Dade prosecutors, McCoggle collected more than $250,000 while running MOTET. During late 2002 and 2003, he had a partnership with Eastern Oklahoma State to offer noncredit classes using the college's name and accreditation.

Teachers -- who say they heard about MOTET primarily through word of mouth -- paid $175 per credit, of which the college received $75 and McCoggle kept $100.

The noncredit courses cannot be used in Florida to meet teachers' continuing-education requirements. But the transcripts received by teachers in McCoggle's program were almost indistinguishable from those listing for-credit class work.

McCoggle also had deals with at least four other out-of-state schools, likely covering thousands more teachers. The next phase of the district's investigation will focus on 299 current teachers who received credits from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. Those teachers were notified in letters sent Friday, Vangates said.

That phase of the investigation is expected to wrap up before the beginning of the 2006-07 school year, Garcia said.

Later this year, the investigation will expand to teachers who received credits from three other schools -- Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn.; Phillips University in Enid, Okla.; and St. Gregory's University in Shawnee, Okla. -- all of which Crew said have provided lists of MOTET students.

At least some of the 30 teachers targeted for firing have denied wrongdoing and will fight dismissal, the teachers union said.

"This is like casting a fishing net, and unfortunately many marine mammals get caught up and drown in that type of net," said United Teachers of Dade President Karen Aronowitz.

She did not know how many of the 30 are union members or plan to fight but said district investigators demanded unreasonable proof that the teacher actually attended classes, some of which were supposedly held years ago.

Garcia said all 30 claimed to have taken classes from McCoggle himself, who admitted in a deposition that no academic work was required or expected.

"The burden of proof isn't on the teachers at all," he said.

Aronowitz also wants the district to investigate the principals and other administrators who some teachers said pointed them toward McCoggle. Garcia said district officials are "looking into" those allegations but said they would be difficult to prove.

"I don't know whether there would be a reason to investigate them," he said. "There were a lot of things that made this look like a valid distance learning operation."

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Source: The Miami Herald

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