THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 2, 1996 TAG: 9605020433
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY AND CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Before police began investigating Frank C. Schulz Jr. for ``the possibility of sexual offenses against juveniles,'' at least one teacher and one student filed formal complaints against the former Manteo High School chemistry teacher.
``I was aware of two situations that occurred involving Mr. Schulz and inappropriate behavior,'' Dare County School Superintendent Leon Holleman said Wednesday. ``Reports were written by the principal. And letters were put into his permanent personnel file.''
Holleman declined to elaborate on the incidents, which occurred in the year before the investigation, saying only that they involved ``inappropriate social engagements'' outside of school hours and ``inappropriate social behavior'' with students.
On both occasions, the superintendent said, administrators confronted Schulz and showed him copies of the complaints. He was not suspended nor was his salary affected by the allegations.
Two days before Schulz's April 3 resignation, Holleman said, school officials found ``sufficient documentation to take action further than we had in the past. . . . A concerned citizen let me be aware that there might be unlicensed material'' on Schulz's computer that he kept in his school office, Holleman said. Holleman also said he had heard that Schulz ``encouraged students to come to his house.''
Holleman refused to reveal how many unconfirmed reports the school system had received about Schulz's possible misconduct during the seven years he taught at Manteo High.
For a report to become confirmed, the superintendent said, the complaining party has to file a written complaint about an incident and confront the accused person face-to-face.
No charges have been filed against Schulz, 50, who taught advanced placement chemistry and formerly worked at Manteo Middle School and in New York state public schools.
State and local investigators are continuing to interview students, examine material in Schulz's computer and pursue other leads, Dare County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Rodney Midgett said Wednesday.
School officials said that despite attempts to contact Schulz, they have not seen or heard from him in the month since he resigned - a few hours after administrators confronted him in his school office.
Law enforcement officers said they do not know the former teacher's whereabouts.
Holleman - who was not working in Dare County when Schulz was hired - said he was unaware that Schulz had a felony charge against him in another state, which police have confirmed but the nature of which has not been disclosed. Until last year, the superintendent said, potential teachers did not have to reveal whether they had been convicted of crimes. Holleman did not know whether Schulz's New York references had been checked before Schulz was offered a job on the Outer Banks.
``I've asked our attorney to find out if there's any information New York school officials should've shared with us at his hiring time that they didn't,'' Holleman said. ``If there's a question about any type of morality issue, then I'm required to make that information available to another school district'' interested in hiring a teacher who worked in Dare County.
Local school officials have a strict ``prohibited relationship policy,'' Holleman said. ``It doesn't speak to routine social encounters. But it does speak to love interests and sexual relationships. We do not want to be in the position where an employee could use real or perceived power to gain influence'' over any student.
Although Schulz told students to call him ``Doctor'' and said during a 1993 interview that he had a doctoral degree from Columbia University, a graduate fellowship at Princeton University and had been a full professor at Arizona State University, officials at those institutions said they have no records of Schulz's attendance or employment.
Holleman said Schulz received a bachelor's degree from Corpus Christi University in Texas and a diploma from Columbia of the Pacific. Dare County schools paid Schulz at a ``bachelor's degree with 26 years experience'' level. Schulz was earning $36,846 annually when he resigned.
According to the superintendent, school officials became suspicious of Schulz when they read a 1993 article quoting Schulz in The Virginian-Pilot's Carolina Coast magazine.
A few weeks ago, Holleman wrote the North Carolina Board of Education asking that Schulz's teaching license be revoked. State officials must have a formal hearing before they can take Schulz's license - which would bar him from a public school job in North Carolina. But they have to find Schulz - or at least make every effort to inform him about the hearing - before one can be scheduled, the superintendent said.
Dare County officials have not hired a teacher or substitute to replace Schulz. Other science teachers at Manteo High are covering Schulz's classes until the end of the school year. A consultant from the state school of math and science is working with some students to help them prepare for the advanced placement chemistry test, through which they could earn college credit.
Parents of some of Schulz's former students have asked school administrators to drop failing grades their kids got under Schulz's instruction. ``The principal is looking at'' waiving failing grades students received this semester, Holleman said.
``This is a situation that we'd rather not have to deal with,'' Holleman said. by CNB