In a rare teacher-firing case, a state hearing administrative judge is recommending that Pinellas fire a middle school math teacher for incompetence and insubordination.

Pinellas proved that Curtis Brown, 68, who was suspended without pay last year from John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg, failed to prepare adequate lesson plans or teach the assigned subject matter, and did not improve despite repeated attempts by administrators to help him, says the 17-page recommended order filed Friday by Judge Jeff B. Clark.

School Board attorney Laurie Dart said the ruling should send a message to principals, who often complain that documenting the shortcomings of problem teachers takes too much time, and that because of protections built into state law it isn't likely to result in a teacher's removal anyway.

"I hope this case helps administrators realize that their hard work may result in something," she told the Gradebook this morning.

Brown, whom former Superintendent Clayton Wilcox recommended for firing
last May, will remain suspended without pay until the School Board
considers Clark's order, probably in March. He could not be reached
this morning.

His attorney, Mark Herdman, said an appeal was unlikely.

The Brown case is notable because teachers are rarely fired for poor
teaching. According to state records, Pinellas has fired only two
veteran teachers for unsatisfactory performance in the past five years.
Hillsborough has fired one; Pasco and Hernando, zero. Herdman said he
could not recall another case in which Pinellas tried to fire a teacher
on the more specific grounds of incompetence.

By one expert's estimates, based on surveys of more than 20,000 administrators, 3 to 5 percent of teachers perform poorly and 13 to 20 percent marginally.

Brown's case also sheds light on the lengthy process administrators
must follow to attempt to help problem teachers and get rid
of them if they don't improve.

A nine-year veteran who was teaching struggling students, Brown got an
unflattering evaluation in 2005-2006 and an overall unsatisfactory
rating in 2006-07, according to court records. He was put on 90 days' probation in January 2008 after administrators said they still didn't see progress.

Herdman argued in court filings
that the district could not prove the teacher was incompetent because
its assessment was not based primarily on scores from the FCAT or
similar tests, which he said state law requires. And Brown was not
insubordinate, Herdman wrote, because he repeatedly tried to do what
his supervisors wanted.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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