Superintendent poised to fire over 100 teachers

Charles · Aug 31, 2005

Miami-Dade again.

Miami-Dade School Superintendent Rudy Crew may try to fire more than 100 teachers accused of buying fraudulent continuing-education credits to maintain their state licenses, The Herald has learned.

Senior sources in Crew's administration said the 106 employees may be permitted to resign rather than face a full investigation. Otherwise, they could be fired or face other disciplinary action.

Crew does not believe he needs School Board approval to begin the termination process or request resignations, according to sources. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Crew had not publicly announced the plan or shared it with School Board members.

The list of employees -- mostly teachers, plus a few classroom aides and other school staff -- was not available Tuesday, but the administration sources said it would be released today.

None of the 106 has been charged criminally, but they were linked to William McCoggle, who was indicted in July for allegedly selling worthless university credits from Eastern Oklahoma State College.
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Gotta love them unions.

The United Teachers of Dade union president said resignation or firing might be too harsh in some cases.

''Did one person take one course? Did one person take 29 courses?'' said President Karen Aronowitz. ``We have to make sure we look at each of these individuals as individuals and see what the level of misconduct might be.''
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According to prosecutors, McCoggle ran a company called Moving On Toward Education and Training, or MOTET, which held a contract with Eastern Oklahoma State College to provide classes in South Florida under the college's name.
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The Miami-Dade grand jury that indicted McCoggle said he collected more than $250,000 in the deal, which eventually led Oklahoma college officials to invalidate the credits. His alleged scam was first reported last year by WSVN-Fox 7.
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Prosecutors have also connected McCoggle and MOTET with other universities, and said hundreds of other Miami-Dade teachers received credits through the company.

''This is just Phase One,'' said Cousins, a former FBI agent, whose last day as inspector general is today.

The dismissals come on the heels of another teacher scandal: Last week, at least five Miami-Dade teachers were found to be among a group of 122 Florida Memorial University students who paid friends to change their grades in between 1999 and 2002. Five alleged ringleaders -- none of them teachers -- were charged last month with racketeering.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12518940.htm

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Superintendent poised to fire over 100 teachers

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