Douglas Haight, a teacher at Berkeley High hired in August, lost his teaching credential after cops in Marin pulled him over in December for driving drunk and then found LSD in a bottle of liquid breath mint.
Numbers from the state’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing show that while it’s rare for a school district to notify the CTC of a change in credential status due to allegations of misconduct, a large percentage of such cases statewide involve alcohol and drugs. Between 2005 and 2012, Berkeley Unified School District notified the CTC of a change in credential status eight times.
Haight is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
[See table below for figures from Alameda, Albany, Oakland, Piedmont and WCCUSD]
Out of the 25,357 cases of alleged misconduct opened by the CTC between 2006 and 2011, a third were alcohol related.
Number of Notifications of Change in Employment Status to CTC Due to Allegations of Misconduct Alameda Albany Berkeley Oakland Piedmont WCCUSD 2005 1 1 2006 2007 1 1 11 2008 2 13 2 2009 3 7 2010 1 1 2011 1 4 2012 1 2 5 Total 2 1 8 35 0 11Only a fraction of the cases opened by the CTC are a result of notification from a school district or a law enforcement agency. Most are self-reported by first-time applicants, or discovered during background checks.
Cases Opened by the CTC's Division of Professional Practices Crime FY 06/07 FY 07/08 FY 08/09 FY 09/10 FY 10/11 Alcohol 2258 1990 1927 2136 1447 Other Crimes 1438 1258 1118 1446 2028 Serious Crimes/Felonies 887 813 626 1174 1128 Drugs 315 308 257 473 335 Child Crime—Non-Sexual 179 201 173 234 254 Child Crime—Sexual 112 110 126 112 129 Adult Crime—Sexual 67 71 61 87 79 Total 5256 4751 4288 5662 5400 Total reported by school districts 238 211 221 241 210 Source: Commission on Teacher CredentialingCTC Final Actions 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 Revoked or Denied Credential 429 376 294 419 481 Suspension 267 279 194 207 243
