THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190404
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 68 lines
The state Board of Education has suspended the teaching certificate of former Manteo High School chemistry teacher Frank C. Schulz Jr., pending a final decision on permanent revocation of his license.
A teacher in Manteo for seven years, Schulz was investigated last spring on suspicion of committing sexual offenses against some of his students.
No charges were filed.
Harry Wilson, a legal specialist with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, said Wednesday in Raleigh that Schulz's license was suspended by the state on Sept. 5. The 51-year-old Manteo resident has 60 days to request a hearing with an administrative law judge.
Wilson said the state board based the suspension on a report from the Dare County Board of Education. He said his agency does not release further information on suspensions.
If Schulz does not respond to notification of the suspension, the state panel will vote on revocation at its December meeting, Wilson said.
When a teaching certificate is revoked, the information is entered in the state's database. Wilson also said the state shares licensure information with a national clearinghouse.
Schulz resigned abruptly April 3 after school officials confronted him in his office about possible unlicensed material on his computer.
State and local law enforcement officials subsequently obtained a warrant to search his residence. The contents have been kept sealed by court order since then, but an investigator had said the inventory list of confiscated items included photographs, videotapes and computers.
Investigators from the Dare County Sheriff's Department and the State Bureau of Investigation called off an 11-week investigation of Schulz in June because there was not enough evidence to charge him, the district attorney said.
``We're only as good as the information people give us,'' Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette said in June.
During the probe, more than 30 students, teachers and administrators were interviewed.
Schulz taught college-level chemistry at Manteo High School for six years. He had moved to the Outer Banks after resigning mid-year in 1988 from Johnsburg Central School District in North Creek, N.Y., where he taught science for nine years.
Hired by Dare County in 1989, Schulz told students to call him ``Doctor'' and said in a 1993 interview that he had a doctoral degree from Columbia University, a graduate fellowship at Princeton University and had formerly been a full professor at Arizona State University.
A later check of each school's files revealed that no records existed of Schulz's attendance or employment.
Superintendent of Schools Leon Holleman said in April that Schulz was hired as ``regular, certified teacher.'' Schulz was earning $36,846 annually when he resigned.
Schulz had a felony charge filed against him in New York, law enforcement officials said. Holleman said he was not aware of the charge prior to the investigation, adding the teacher was hired before he came aboard as superintendent.
There were two complaints filed against Schulz involving ``inappropriate social behavior with students'' a year before he resigned, Holleman had said in May.
No disciplinary action was taken after the allegations, the superintendent said.
Schulz's Burnside Forest residence was recently put on the market.
A 1995 Cadillac Schulz owned was repossessed at a loss in June or July, said Beverly Booker at GMC Finance.
Schulz could not be reached for comment. His listed phone number is disconnected, and a new listing is unpublished. by CNB