PORT ANGELES – The firing of a special-education teacher for ignoring Port Angeles School District orders to stay away from the boy she was tutoring was upheld Tuesday by a retired state Supreme Court justice.
But the lawyer for the teacher, Linda Capo, said she might appeal the ruling, handed down by former Justice Faith Ireland following a three-day open personnel hearing in Port Angeles last week.
Ireland said Capo’s firing was justified because she was insubordinate.
But the justice said school district policies toward teachers’ tutorial relationships with students were insufficient to support a second accusation of poor judgment on the teacher’s part.
Capo’s lawyer, Jon Rosen of Seattle, said they will consider an appeal to a Superior Court in the next 30 days.
“Obviously [the ruling] is very disappointing,” Rosen said.
“While contrary to her ruling, we do believe resuming contact [with the boy] was in his best interests.”
Capo, 62, took an interest in the boy while researching a book, and began to tutor the troubled 15-year-old – even staying overnight in the home where the boy lived.
The school district sought two other charges – that Capo engaged in an inappropriate relationship, called “boundary invasion,” with the student and that she exercised poor professional judgment.
But Ireland said:
“Nowhere is there any indication that the district has promulgated any policies guidelines or standards about ‘boundary invasion’ for its teachers.
“Nor was there any evidence of any training given on the subject.”
Port Angeles School District Superintendent Gary Cohn said he respected Ireland’s ruling and would follow it.
“I believe that in light of her comments we acted responsibly, correctly and with nothing but the protection of student safety foremost in mind,” Cohn said.
“Justice Ireland’s comments during the hearing that she ‘does not condone Ms. Capo’s actions and behaviors’ are consistent with my decision.”Â
Cohn, in an August letter terminating Capo’s 10-year employment with the district, criticized her gifts to the boy that included seven CDs by groups called the Anti-Nowhere League and Gwar.
The recordings including profane lyrics which “are not the kind of material which teachers should be sharing with their students,” the superintendent said in the letter.
In addition, Cohn wrote that Capo had allowed the boy to drive her car when he did not have a driver’s license.
