ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603270094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Fairfax County teacher fired because several former students accused him of fondling them wants his job back.
Craig R. Gordon was cleared this week of allegations a state agency made against him.
``I've done nothing wrong. I was a good teacher and I am [still] a good teacher,'' Gordon told a news conference. ``I want to go back to what I've always wanted to do.''
The Fairfax County Circuit Court on Wednesday ruled that the gym teacher was denied a fair investigation and hearing by the Virginia Department of Social Services in 1993.
Eight former students of Virginia Run Elementary School in Centreville accused Gordon of kissing them, fondling their breasts and buttocks, and pulling them onto his lap.
Gordon never was charged with any crime.
The School Board apparently is sticking by its August 1994 decision to fire Gordon.
``That ruling has nothing to do with the School Board action,'' said board member Gary Reese, who voted to fire Gordon.
The board's vote followed nearly 60 hours of hearings and did not include the allegations against the teacher made earlier by the Department of Social Services.
``If there's one thing [Gordon] had in that School Board hearing, it was the opportunity to confront its accusers,'' Reese said. ``We bent over backwards to give him due process.''
Gordon is pursuing a separate lawsuit against the School Board.
In a 19-page ruling made public Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge M. Langhorne Keith criticized the investigation by the Social Services agency.
The judge said the state agency had denied Gordon due process at every stage of its investigation by not allowing him to subpoena or cross-examine witnesses and by not maintaining a record of interviews with his accusers.
The judge ordered all the Social Services charges removed from Gordon's record and told the agency to pay all court costs and attorney's fees.
Gordon spent most of his 22-year teaching career at Virginia Run Elementary.
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