TEACHER TOLD TO TAKE COURSES BLEW WHISTLE

Published: Sunday, July 10, 2005
NEWS 04A
By Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A questionable arrangement between Otterbein College and a Miami company came to light because of a Florida whistleblower. Bennett Packman, a Miami-Dade County schoolteacher since 1997, became convinced that teachers were getting improper education credentials when he began teaching at American Senior High School in Miami.

Packman, 48, was beginning a new job as a physical-education teacher in 2003 when his principal added driver's-education classes to his schedule. He was not trained in driver's education, but the principal said he'd obtain a waiver so Packman could start teaching immediately. He told Packman to get his certification from MOTET, Move On Toward Education and Training. Packman, however, had heard that MOTET classes were fraudulent. He refused to attend and also refused to sign student driver's-education forms that only a certified teacher could sign.

"That would have gotten me to the point where I was in too deep; then I would have committed fraud,'' Packman said.

Packman began researching MOTET and pushing state education officials to look closely at the school. He learned that although MOTET classes were taught in Miami, the academic credits teachers had received came from out-of-state colleges, including Eastern Oklahoma State and Otterbein colleges.

Packman's job, meanwhile, was unraveling.

He refused to report to American because the principal would not remove the driver's-education classes from his schedule. The district stopped paying him.

Packman appealed to the Miami-Dade schools Office of Professional Standards, which assigned him to teach at a different high school for the 2004-05 school year.

Now he's trying to negotiate a settlement through his teachers union for back pay.

kgray@dispatch.com


Top

PACKMAN