r ‘ 1 3 1 BEFORE THE TEACHER STANDARDS AND PRACTICES COMMISSION 2 OF THE STATE OF OREGON 3 In the Matter of the ' Teaching License of 4 STIPULATION AND ORDER MARCIA JEAN MEYERS OF SUSPENSION 5 6 7 On January 24, 2000, the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (Commission) 8 issued a Notice of Opportunity for Hearing to Marcia Jean Meyers. Thereafier, Ms. Meyers 9 requested a hearing through her attorney, Elizabeth Joffe. The Commission and Ms. Meyers 10 have now reviewed the issues connected with this proceeding and have determined that their 11 respective interests and the public interest are best served by a stipulation t0 certain facts and a \ 12 suspension ost. Meyer’s Oregon Teaching License. Ms. Meyers understands that in entering 13 this stipulation she is waiving her right to a hearing, and the Commission will enter a suspension 14 of her teaching license. 15 STIPULATED FACTS 16 Ms. Meyers and the Commission stipulate as follows: l7 l. Ms. Meyers holds a basic Oregon Teaching License. During the 1998-99 school year she 18 was employed as a sixth grade teacher at Damascus Middle School in the Gresham-Barlow 19 School District. 20 2. On or about June 4, 1999, in the course of teaching a science curriculum on using 21 microscopes, Ms. Meyers provided her students unsterilized bulletin board pushpins, encouraged 22 them to prick their fingers, draw blood and smear it on a microscope slide. Under Meyers’ 23 supervision, students in two classes shared the same pushpins to draw blood, and the pushpins j, Page l - STIPULATION AND ORDER OF SUSPENSION ETD1tj h\GEN49432.DOC napalm“ 0mm 1162 Court Street NE 822?; $2335" . 1 were not sterilized after use. Meyers took no precautions to protect the students from potential 2 exposure to blood-borne pathogens. 3 3. The District had provided some training to teachers in procedures to avoid 4 potential exposure to blood-borne pathogens. Ms. Meyers acknowledged that she had attended 5 at least one of these training sessions some time in the past five years, but she was unable to 6 attend the training in the 1998-99 school year because it was held while she was teaching 7 outdoor school. 8 4. Following this incident, the school placed Ms. Meyers on paid administrative 9 leave, and she resigned her position with the district on July 16, 1999. She has not been 10 employed as a teacher since that date. 1 l ~ . \ 12 d ‘ ia Jean Meyers Date 13 [v ' M . " é 14 4w >// [w David V. Myton Date 15 Executive Director Teacher Standards and Practices Commission 16 l7 CONCLUSION 0F LAW 18 Marcia Jean Meyers violated OAR 584-020-0040(4)(n) and 584-020-0010(5) by her 19 actions which allowed students to be exposed to a potential risk of blood-borne pathogen 20 transmission. 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// Page 2 - STIPULATION AND ORDER OF SUSPENSION ETD:tjh\GEN49432.DOC Department of Justice 1162 Court Street NE Salem. OR 97310 (503) 378-6003 ‘ I 4 v . 1 DISCUSSION 2 Ms. Meyers’ choice in allowing the students to proceed with a science unit on 3 microscopes in the manner in which she did demonstrated extremely poor judgment. It placed 4 her students at risk for exposure to serious disease. Her actions could also have placed the 5 district at substantial liability. She does not dispute the facts as set forth above. She notes that 6 she had never before been assigned to teach a lab class and had not taught any science class for 7 several years. She has lost her position as a result of her actions. 8 The Commission views a repeat violation as highly unlikely and therefore, does not 9 consider probation necessary. In this case, a period of suspension is warranted. But because 10 Ms. Meyers resigned her position in July 1999 and has not been engaged in teaching since that 11 time, the Commission will impose a retroactive suspension that is effective from January 15, 12 2000. .13 ORDER l4 The Oregon Teaching License of Marcia Jean Meyer shall be suspended for a period of 15 six months retroactive from January 15, 2000 to June 14, 2000. 16 DATED this g ‘1” my of May 2000. l7 TEACHER STANDARDS AND PRACTICES CONllVHSSlON l 8 r 19 By: 4655111‘ ‘liu ‘ David V. Myton, Executive Director 20 Approved as to form: 21 22 460% QQ [117:6 $fi2 Q‘; ~7E ( O Z 0 O Elizab offe, OSB #"940' 4 ' . .2 D e 23 Of Attorneys for Marcia Jean Meyers Page 3 - STIPULATION AND ORDER OF SUSPENSION ETD:tjh\GEN49432.DOC Depanmentoflustice 1162 Court Street NE Salem, OR 97310 (503) 318-6003