Both the Commission and the Department of Education (Department) play an important role in the educator discipline system. As the body charged with the oversight and enforcement of the educator discipline system, the primary goal of the Commission is to ensure the health, safety and welfare of students and other individuals in our schools while facilitating the fair, efficient and transparent adjudication of complaints against educators. The Department specifically has responsibility for the intake of educator misconduct complaints as well as the investigation and prosecution of disciplinary cases before the Commission.
Filing a Complaint
Any interested party may file a written educator misconduct complaint with the Department, which will initiate the Department's review and investigation of the misconduct.
Legal Sufficiency Review
After initial review to determine if the educator holds a Pennsylvania certification, a Department attorney is responsible for determining whether the allegations contained in the complaint are legally sufficient. A complaint is legally sufficient if the facts alleged in the complaint, if accepted as true, would be sufficient to warrant discipline under the Act.
If it is determined that legal sufficiency is lacking, the complaint is dismissed and the educator and complainant are so notified by the Department. Similarly, if legal sufficiency is found, the Department notifies the affected educator of the complaint and the current and/or prior employing school entity. The complaint then progresses to the next level of review.
Probable Cause Review
If legal sufficiency is found, the Department will conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether probable cause exists to proceed. The preliminary investigation may be limited to a review of documents submitted by the affected educator, the complainant and/or the pertinent employing school entity. If probable cause is not found, the Department notifies the affected educator, the complainant and the employer, where appropriate, that the complaint has been dismissed. Conversely, if probable cause is found, the Department initiates a full investigation.
After its investigation, the Department may elect to: dismiss the complaint because discipline is not warranted or because there is insufficient evidence to establish professional misconduct; determine that any action taken by the local school entity is sufficient; enter into a negotiated settlement of the complaint; or initiate formal hearing procedures before the Commission with the filing of Notice of Charges.
Notice of Charges
The formal adjudicatory hearing process is initiated with the filing of a Notice of Charges with the Commission. A Notice of Charges must set out with specificity the grounds for discipline and the factual allegations in support thereof. The Charges are served on the affected educator and the current and/or prior employing school entity. The educator has 30 days in which to file a responsive pleading and to request a hearing. In cases where the Department seeks an immediate suspension of an educator's certification or requests an expedited hearing, the time period for response by the educator is abbreviated. Failure to respond to the Notice of Charges may result in the imposition of discipline based on the allegations contained in the Notice of Charges.
Intervention
Under section 13(c)(4) of the Act, the local school entity in which the affected educator is or was last employed may intervene in the case. School entities that intervene may participate fully in the case, including the hearing, but do not have authority to appeal any decision of the hearing officer or the Commission.
Hearings
When factual matters are in dispute, the case will be assigned to one of the Commission’s hearing officers. The hearing officers are independent attorneys who are under contract to act as presiding officers in hearings pursuant to the General Rules of Administrative Practice and Procedure (Rules).
Under the Rules, the hearing officers are granted authority to hold pre-hearing conferences, to conduct fair and impartial hearings, to rule on evidentiary questions, and to dispose of procedural matters. A hearing officer is prohibited, however, from making a final determination of the case except through a proposed report to the Commission. The Commission is charged with making all final determinations.
Upon completion of the hearing, the hearing officer prepares a proposed report containing findings of fact, conclusions of law and recommending discipline where appropriate. Parties to the case, excluding the intervening school entity, may file an appeal of the proposed report to the Commission within 30 days after the proposed report is mailed. If an appeal is filed, the Commission may accept, modify or reject the hearing officer’s decision as the Commission is the ultimate fact finder.
Appeal
Decisions of the Commission are considered to be “adjudications.” Administrative law defines an adjudication as any final order, decree, decision, determination or ruling by an agency affecting personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties, liabilities or obligations. As an adjudication, decisions of the Commission are eligible of appeal to the Commonwealth Court by either the Department or the educator. While typically an appeal of the Commission’s decision acts as a stay of the discipline, there is no stay in those cases in which the Commission has made a determination that the educator poses a threat to the health, safety or welfare of students or other persons in the schools or Commonwealth or where the grounds for discipline are sexual misconduct, sexual abuse or exploitation, a criminal offense set forth in section 111(e) of the Public School Code, a criminal offense involving moral turpitude or where the discipline is the result of an approved negotiated settlement.
Confidentiality
The Educator Discipline Act mandates that all information relating to any complaints or any proceedings relating to or resulting from such complaints, including the identity of the complainant, shall remain confidential unless or until public discipline is imposed. Breaches of confidentiality can result in a conviction for a misdemeanor of the third degree.
The confidentiality provisions do not apply to proceedings based on indictments or convictions for crimes involving moral turpitude or crimes listed in section 111(e) of the Public School Code of 1949. Proceedings involving reciprocal discipline and reinstatement are also not confidential.
School entities are not, however, prohibited from disclosing information that was known or available independently of the disciplinary proceeding, developed in the course of their own investigations or information previously made public as a result of a local employment disciplinary or dismissal proceeding. For more information regarding the confidentiality requirements, please see 24 P.S. § 2070.17b.