AUBURN — School districts differ on how they handle educators who are convicted of serious cases of drunken driving.

There are no statewide regulations or even best practices, superintendents in Lewiston and Auburn said.

One Edward Little High School teacher and coach, who the Sun Journal is not naming, has three drunken-driving convictions, according to his driving record.

State records show the first OUI occurred in January 2013, the second in December 2013, and the third in November 2015. After the most recent conviction, the Secretary of State declared him a habitual offender, per state law.

Responding to a request from the Sun Journal about his driving record, the teacher emailed a statement: 

“It is a personal matter that happened during a difficult time in my life,” he said. “I work hard each day to positive impact the students and student athletes at Edward Little. I have learned a great deal from my past, and continue to strive to be the best educator I can be.”

Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin said the School Department does expect educators to be role models. She declined to comment on the teacher, saying it’s a personnel matter.

School Committee Chairman Tom Kendall said the committee has no documentation of a reprimand.

Lewiston Superintendent Bill Webster said several factors are considered in handling educators convicted of serious cases of drunken driving.

“There are situations that come up and we have to deal with things like this,” he said. In some situations “they no longer work for Lewiston schools.”

During hiring, a candidate’s background records are checked. If there’s an OUI conviction, Webster said, it gives him pause.

“If it’s a recent OUI, we will not hire that person,” he said. “We think it’s indicative of some issues that have yet to be addressed, and could reflect on the ability of that candidate to do the job. They are a role model for kids.”

If a candidate has an old OUI conviction, “I’m not going to hold that against them if their records demonstrated they’ve turned their lives around,” Webster said. “It’s case by case. There’s no hard and fast rule.”

When a teacher or administrator has a conviction or if it’s later discovered that an employee’s background may not make him or her a good role model for students, “it becomes a little more complicated from a legal standpoint,” Webster said. 

A drunken-driving conviction itself is not grounds for firing, he said. What’s more important is how effectively the individual can do the job “given what’s transpired, and where you are in life.”

If the employee is able to perform all functions of the job — driving is not a function of administrators or teachers — there are no legal grounds to terminate, Webster said.

That said, he would ask: “How effective is he or she in the classroom? What impact, if any, have those instances had on the ability to perform the job?”

Steven Bailey, executive director of the Maine School Management Association, said cases involving serious driving convictions are handled “case by case.”

What happens depends on what role the person plays, he said. “Is he or she an administrator, or in a leadership position responsible for delivering that message of the higher good in terms of what they should be doing with substances?” he said.

Background checks are done on everyone hired, Bailey said. “On all applications there are questions asking, ‘Have you been convicted of a criminal offense, excluding a minor traffic violation?’ We expect people to answer them honestly. If they respond yes, we expect an explanation.”

James Hodgkin, former superintendent of Regional School Unit 4 in Wales, now superintendent for Damariscotta-area schools, said a drunken-driving conviction would not necessarily stop him from hiring a person.

It would prompt him to have a conversation about what happened to see whether the person had “learned from their mistake, what kind of judgment they used.” It could be that someone made a poor decision of having a third glass of wine at dinner, he said. 

A conviction may not be grounds for firing an employee, he said, but he would monitor the situation.

“It used to be what happens outside of school is not the school’s business. That’s no longer always the case,” Hodgkin said.

“If what happened causes a disruption or issue at school, then it becomes a school issue,” especially when an action erodes trust in the community, Hodgkin said. When an educator has lost the trust of students, staff or parents, “you become ineffective,” he said.

The state certification for teachers and administrators takes into consideration drunken driving and other serious driving offenses, but a certification would not necessarily be denied.

“It depends,” said Rachel Paling, communications director for the Maine Department of Education. The department looks at every conviction on a case-by-case basis, weighing criminal history, date and relevance of the crime, she said.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com