Cda Board Sets Hearing For Mather Teacher Acquitted Of Sexual Abuse Now Faces Scrutiny Of School District

With carefully chosen words, Coeur d’Alene School District officials took the first step Monday toward firing a teacher accused of sexually touching students.

Paul Mather, 49, was acquitted Jan. 10 of sex abuse charges after an emotionally charged trial. However, the school board - using less stringent rules of evidence - still can dismiss him for unethical professional behavior.

“Bottom line, that’s my recommendation,” District Superintendent Doug Cresswell told board members at their Monday evening meeting.

Cresswell said he had based his recommendation on the district’s internal investigation, on police reports and on Mather’s preliminary hearing and trial. Five girls, 13 and 14 years old, said the popular geography teacher had touched their breasts and buttocks.

Reading from a script, board member Edie Brooks moved to set a hearing for 8 a.m. on Feb. 18, “to continue until completed.”

The motion was approved by Brooks, Herb Cheeley and Wanda Quinn. Two other trustees, Vern Newby and Tim Olson, were absent.

The board will act as the jury that decides whether Mather will keep his job. The hearing, which could last several days, will be open to the public unless Mather asks that it be closed.

If Mather loses his job because of a breach of ethics, the state’s Professional Standards Commission is likely to revoke his teaching certificate. That would prevent him from getting another public school teaching job anywhere in the country.

Mather has been suspended with pay from his job at Canfield Middle School since June 10.

In other business, the trustees:

Approved the final plans for a third middle school, which voters approved last May. However, board members first sought assurance that the roof wouldn’t collapse under weight of snow, as recently happened to schools in Sandpoint.

Architect Scott Fischer explained that the school’s slightly pitched roof, which is made of different materials and has a different design than those in Sandpoint, should be sufficiently strong. He noted that Sandpoint gets a lot more snow than Coeur d’Alene.

Bids for the new school are expected to be opened on March 20. Construction should be complete in July of 1998, Fischer said.

Heard that all of Coeur d’Alene’s schools earned state accreditation. Canfield Middle School was approved “with merit.” Two other schools, Coeur d’Alene High and Lakes Middle School, are being reviewed for approval with merit.

Gave special recognition to Kootenai Medical Center. Cresswell cited the long cooperation between the hospital and the school district. But foremost on trustees’ minds was the hiring of a full-time district nurse, largely at KMC’s expense.

In the past, the 14 schools have had only one quarter-time nurse.

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