Justice Delayed?

High School teacher Michael Holland of Boca Raton, Florida has been dismissed from his post based upon allegations of misconduct nearly 20 years ago:

A recent investigation by the state found that in 1986 Holland took four female students who were about to graduate to dinner, bought them alcohol, took two of them home and allegedly had sex with one of the girls, age 17. The incident was first reported in 1993, but there was not enough evidence to substantiate the charges.

The 22-year veteran Boca Raton High educator denied the sex accusation but admitted he made a mistake giving the students drinks.

Apparently, this wasn't the only time that Mr. Holland had difficulties keeping his hands to himself:

In 2003, Holland was suspended for 10 days from teaching after a student claimed he repeatedly rubbed her shoulders and touched her hair at school, even though she asked him to stop.

Surprisingly, many of Holland's current students are rallying to his defense. It seems that Holland enjoys substantial popularity among his students.

Even more surprisingly, the State of Florida will allow Holland to continue teaching until the appropriate authorities have signed off on the revocation of his teaching credential.

I am more than a little curious to know what evidence that the state has turned-up to further substantiate those allegations of Holland's criminal misconduct dating from 1986. --------------------------An Invitation: All writers and readers of education-related posts are invited to contribute to the fourteenth edition of The Carnival of Education. Please send your submissions to: owlshome [at] earthlink [dot] net. We should receive your contributions no later than 10:00 PM (Pacific) Tuesday, May 10, 2005. The Carnival midway will open here at the 'Wonks Wednesday morning. Get our easy-to-follow entry guidelines here. View the latest edition of the Carnival there.

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