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Claiming Credits from Nonexistent Classes: Six Teachers Fired, 26 Quit

Nearly three dozen Florida teachers lost their jobs last month and hundreds of others are being investigated in a growing scandal over teachers who paid for continuing education credits for courses they never took.

Despite protests from students and parents who defended the teachers, saying removing them in the middle of the school year would be too disruptive, on March 15 the Miami-Dade County School Board voted 5-4 in favor of immediate termination of six teachers and acceptance of resignations from over two dozen others.

To maintain their licenses, Florida law requires public school teachers to obtain six education credits every five years. The credits also earn teachers raises and opportunities to teach other courses.

At the heart of this scandal is a scam run by former high school teacher William McCoggle, who claimed to offer educators continuing education credits through his private company, Move on Toward Education and Training. In November, McCoggle was charged with fraud, admitting that he did little more than sell transcripts; his clients received the requested credits all without tests, homework or other academic work.

McCoggle, a Miami-Dade County teacher since 1983 before retiring last summer, will serve two years in prison and pay $100,000 in restitution.

This is not the only certification scandal surrounding McCoggle's company. Last fall, Otterbein College in Ohio revoked nearly 10,000 credits given to hundreds of teachers. It was one of five schools that prosecutors identified as receiving phony credentials from Move on Toward Education and Training.

(Source: http://www.miami.com and http://www.nbc6.net)