Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410110094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Virginia Education Association members say the decision was unfair and now they may sue the School Board.
"It will be my recommendation that this action be appealed through the court system," Bracciano's attorney Joe Steffen said after the late night executive session was over. "It's my belief that my client's rights have been trampled on by the conduct of the hearing process, the inapproriate input by community members and by the embandonment of particular procedures."
Carol Bracciano, a sixth- and seventh-grade health and physical education teacher, was placed on probation last year, after showing photos of nude men bathing in a hot spring as part of a slideshow on wilderness survival. She contends the slides showed the importance of personal hygiene on the trail, but admitted she may have misjudged the appropriateness of the slides.
As part of her probation, Bracciano had to submit all teaching materials for review before using them. Superintendent Herman Bartlett and Auburn principal Bob Miller said Bracciano used poor judgement in presenting for review two educational videos that contained brief scenes of nudity. One was a PBS documentary and the other a program on eating disorders. Bartlett and Miller also say Bracciano was insubordinate because she used one video in her class after Miller instructed her not to.
Bracciano's attorney says the facts have been distorted, and that Bracciano was never told not to show the PBS video. Furthermore, he said, Bracciano was assured months later that her job would be secure, then the decision was unexpectedly reversed.
Bracciano asked a grievance panel to hear the case and all three members - including the panel member assigned by Bartlett - found in favor of Bracciano.
"Certainly School Boards have overturned grievance panel decisions before, and it's in their right to do that," Steffen said. "But I've never seen them overturn a unanimous decision before. This tells me that the grievance procedure is effectively dead in Montgomery County."
Montgomery County administrators will not speak on the matter because they say it is a personnel issue.
Although the issue was to have been judged based solely on the probationary period, parents who are dissatisfied with Bracciano for other reasons have since spoken up.
Steffen said the School Board and the superintendent let a "vocal minority of fanatical, religious far-right activists" persuade them into firing the teacher for the original incident involving the slides and for other problems the teacher has had with pupils in the past.
"The issue of Carol Bracciano's employement is about her compliance to the [probation]," Steffen said. "It never was and never should be about something she had already been punished for."
The decision to fire Bracciano came after months of hearing evidence on her case. The board voted 6-3, with Annette Perkins of Blacksburg, and Bob Goncz and David Moore of Christiansburg voting in favor of the teacher.
In the meantime, said Distrcit VEA Director Marshall Leitch, "the Montgomery County Education Association and the VEA are going to look at every possible aspect of this case and see if there is indeed a legal remedy to be had."
The issue continues to be a waiting game for Bracciano.
"She isn't doing very well at all," Leitch added. "They have essentially taken her career away from her. Not just her livlihood, but a large part of her world as well."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***