Board acts to fire Fitch teacher accused of misconduct with student

Another teacher is retiring in the midst of a scandal involving a student.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The school board is taking steps to fire a teacher accused of misconduct with a student.
William Iagulli, a social studies teacher at Fitch High School, is to go on trial March 8 in Mahoning County Court No. 4 on charges of telecommunications harassment and solicitation, both misdemeanors. He is on paid leave from his teaching job.
Board of education President Michael Creatore said, however, that he decided he'd had enough of the Iagulli situation when he attended a motion-to-suppress hearing called by Iagulli's lawyer in the county court Jan. 25. There, he heard a detective read the transcript of an e-mail exchange that is supposed to have occurred between Iagulli and a student.
He said the explicit statements in the e-mail exchange angered him.
Firing in motion
The board directed schools Superintendent Doug Heuer to take steps toward firing Iagulli during an executive session at its Wednesday meeting, Creatore and Heuer confirmed.
Heuer said the first step he'll take will be to contact the board's attorney for guidance. Iagulli must be given a formal statement saying why he is being fired, and then he is entitled to a hearing before the board makes a decision.
Heuer said that even though Iagulli is innocent until proven guilty, the school board can dismiss him on grounds that he didn't carry out his duties and responsibilities to the district, which would include his professional conduct with students.
He said the case differs from that of Fitch High teacher Gerald Reedy, who is accused of sexual battery in a relationship with a student, because the board has no evidence that Reedy engaged in misconduct during school hours and on school property. The board never took steps to fire Reedy, whose retirement it approved Wednesday. His case is pending in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Heuer said the board is reviewing evidence with regard to Iagulli on whether his misconduct occurred during his role as a teacher. He said he can give no specific information at this time.
Suppression ruling
Judge Diane Vettori has not issued a ruling in Iagulli's motion-to-suppress hearing, during which lawyer John Juhasz called for suppression of all statements his client made to police or the prosecutor's office the night of his arrest in May, and the suppression of any evidence found on his home computer or other computers. Juhasz argued Iagulli wasn't properly given his Miranda rights.
Creatore said the bottom line for the school board is to get Iagulli off the district's payroll. He said the case was the same with Reedy, whose retirement was negotiated with the district and will be effective March 6.
Reedy will collect a $50,000-a-year pension. "That's from the state," Creatore said. "We want him off the payroll. We can't take the pension away from him."