State Senator Thomas P. Gaffey
February 29, 2008
Gaffey Challenges State Board of Education Re: Reinstatement of Teacher Convicted of Selling Drugs
State Senator Thomas P. Gaffey (D-Meriden), Senate Chairman of the legislature's Education Committee, today challenged the State Board of Education to testify on the bill he wrote to overhaul the process by which Connecticut teachers are disciplined. Senator Gaffey's remarks were made during an Education Committee public hearing at which state Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Mark K. McQuillan testified.
At issue was last summer's decision by the State Board of Education to overturn Dr. McQuillan's suspension of a teacher who had been convicted of selling cocaine. The legislation Senator Gaffey wrote would consolidate sole discretion for teaching certification suspension in the hands of the commissioner.
"I defy any member of the State Board of Education to come before this committee and defend that board's decision to put a convicted drug peddler back in front of a classroom full of Connecticut students, in blatant defiance of the commissioner's direct and unambiguous suspension," Senator Gaffey said. "It is my intention to win support for this bill that'll restore authority and full administrative autonomy to the commissioner for the quality of educators we have in Connecticut public schools."
In 2003, Orlando Hernandez, a 37-year old math teacher, was arrested, tried, and then convicted the following year of selling cocaine to an undercover police officer. Upon conviction he resigned his position at the Fair Haven Middle School. But he started teaching again later that year at the Bridge Academy in Bridgeport, and Dr. McQuillan immediately revoked his license, only to have the State Board overturn his decision.
"The Commissioner of Education has to have the last word if there is to be adequate discipline and a regulated chain of command throughout our public school system," Senator Gaffey added. "The state board members who voted to reinstate a convicted cocaine peddler and put him back in front of young students should resign."
Senator Gaffey is serving his seventh term in the General Assembly, representing the 13th District, which includes Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield, and Middletown.
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