STATE REINSTATES TEACHER

Restores License Despite His Conviction For Selling Cocaine

Until Thursday, Orlando Hernandez, a popular, highly regarded math
teacher, feared his career might be over because of his arrest four
years ago for selling a small amount of cocaine.

It was, he concedes, a stupid mistake, one that came during a
terrible period for him, with his young son dead and his marriage in shambles.

But Hernandez pleaded for a second chance and won back his job at the
Bridge Academy, a small Bridgeport charter school, when the State
Board of Education agreed to restore his teaching license.

The board, citing extenuating circumstances, made him the first
teacher in the state's history to win back a revoked license. The
37-year-old Hernandez, who said he has turned his life around after
making "an incredibly poor choice," will be allowed under strict
conditions to return to his job teaching seventh- and eighth-graders
at the Bridge Academy.

Under the agreement, until 2010 Hernandez is allowed to work only at
the Bridge Academy and must submit to regular drug testing and
psychological counseling. He can work elsewhere before then only if
the Bridge Academy closes or eliminates his job for reasons not
related to his performance, the board said.

Although Education Commissioner Mark K. McQuillan had opposed
reinstatement, the state board was swayed by testimony from several
of Hernandez's colleagues describing him as an exemplary teacher.

"I personally consider him the best teacher I have ever met in my 19
years in education," Thomas Burns, vice president of the New Haven
Federation of Teachers, wrote to state officials.

Burns, who once worked with Hernandez at a New Haven middle school,
said Hernandez was humbled and shamed by his "horrible mistake."

In another letter, Rachel Allison, co-director of the Bridge Academy,
called him "incredibly competent and conscientious," and said his
skills managing student behavior are unparalleled. "We often have to
look beyond our students' past mistakes," she wrote. "... We are
asking that you do the same for Orlando."

Most state board members agreed.

"My life experience ... has caused me to believe strongly in
redemption and second chances," said Patricia Luke, who sided with
the majority in a 6-1 vote Thursday to put Hernandez back in the classroom.

Hernandez, who lives in West Haven, resigned as a middle school
teacher in New Haven public schools in 2004 after his conviction on
charges that he sold a small amount of cocaine.

He was hired again last fall at the Bridge Academy, but state
officials soon revoked his license. The incident had gone unnoticed
by state officials until October, when a routine review of records
turned up the earlier arrest and conviction.

Hernandez had by then begun working at the Bridge Academy, where
school officials were aware of the drug arrest. Nevertheless, they
were willing to give him a chance, said Timothy Dutton, the school's director.

"He was by far the best qualified. ... He's a wonderful human being,"
Dutton said. "I believe strongly this person belongs in the
classroom. We'd be serving no one by taking him out."

Hernandez's teaching certificate was revoked under a state law
requiring an automatic loss of license for teachers convicted of
serious offenses such as child abuse and drug dealing. About 20 other
teachers have lost their licenses under that law, which was passed in
2001, state officials said.

The law allows teachers to appeal to the State Board of Education for
reinstatement.

According to documents on file with the state education department,
Hernandez's arrest occurred during a period when his life was in
turmoil, following an estrangement from his father, who had opposed
his marriage, and the subsequent death of his infant son and
separation from his wife.

Twice - once in a bar in late 2002 and a few months later in 2003 -
Hernandez acquired about $20 worth of cocaine for a woman who
initially approached him at the bar and asked him to get the drug for
her, according to the education department report. The woman, who
paid him, turned out to be an undercover police officer, the report
said. He was arrested in March of 2003.

Although his lawyers considered mounting an entrapment defense,
Hernandez instead pleaded no contest to the charge and was given a
suspended sentence. He was never jailed, and the sentence was
completed after 18 months of probation.

"I made a mistake," Hernandez said Thursday. "I believe in
redemption, like I teach my kids. That incident doesn't say who I am.
.. It happened at a very bad time in my life."

Since then, Hernandez said, he has reconciled with his wife,
re-established a relationship with his father and become an associate
pastor in his church. He said he does not drink alcohol or use drugs.

"I want to thank the State Board of Education and the commissioner
for giving me this chance to continue doing what I love to do," he
said. "[Teaching] is basically my calling."

The reinstatement came despite an earlier recommendation against it
by McQuillan. The commissioner acknowledged Hernandez's strong
teaching record but said the arrest and conviction were too serious
to overlook.

"In the end, Mr. Hernandez presents a difficult case ... because of
the strong support in his favor by the administration at Bridge
Academy," McQuillan wrote in a report to the board. But, he said,
"The job of a teacher extends beyond effectiveness in the classroom
and permits significant influence on young children's lives and their
futures. ...

"While [I agree] that forgiveness and second chances are important
messages ... an even more important message applies in this case -
the message that young people and parents can trust their teachers
and that the certification process is designed, at a minimum, to
reduce student exposure to known safety risks."

However, board Chairman Allan Taylor said Thursday that the
conditions imposed on Hernandez provide as much assurance as possible
that he will not get in trouble again. "We certainly don't have
enough math teachers of Mr. Hernandez's background who teach in urban
schools," Taylor said.

Board member Alice Carolan disagreed and voted against reinstatement.
"I think there are certain events for which there are no second
chances," she said. "... I shudder to think of the ramifications of
what we are about to do."