Prince George’s County School Board votes unanimously to remove one member for "immorality and misconduct"
The Prince George’s County School Board in Maryland has voted unanimously to ask the Maryland State Board of Education to remove one of their members for “immorality and misconduct” in office. Governor Martin O'Malley would also have to approve the removal. The board's decision came after an independent investigator delivered a report to the board on his probe of Nathaniel B. Thomas’s trip to San Francisco. “We found the information included in the report to be egregious, and it has moved us to take further action,” the board said in a statement released after the meeting. Although he has not been charged with a crime in that case, he has been charged with a felony sex crime in connection with another case in which prosecutors say he had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student he taught at Forestville Military Academy. Mr. Thomas was first accused of bringing an 18-year-old student to a conference the board attended in San Francisco without the permission of the youth's parents.
The report, prepared by Timothy F. Maloney, the school board's counsel, states that Mr. Thomas resigned mid-year from his teaching job at Forestville, a county school, after parents of two male students complained to the school about inappropriate jokes, hand gestures, and remarks, according to Forestville's principal. According to the report, there is no record of the complaints in Mr. Thomas's personnel file, and Mr. Thomas denied them. The report also states Mr. Thomas spent time alone at his home with the 18-year-old student and the school board's student member and gave them alcohol.
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By Associated Press
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Washington Times
By Kristen Chick
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