A former East Valley teacher accused of possessing more than 50 images of child pornography on his home computer is no longer working for the Coolidge Unified School District.
Coolidge: Accused teacher not in database
More schools say teacher in child pornography case not in state database
A former East Valley teacher accused of possessing more than 50 images of child pornography on his home computer is no longer working for the Coolidge Unified School District.
Alfonso Padilla, 36, who was arrested Sept. 24 on suspicion of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, was fired from his job as a computer teacher at Coolidge High School on Sept. 30, according to a Coolidge district spokeswoman.
Padilla’s estranged wife gave his home computer to her divorce attorney, who then turned it over to Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputies for investigation, the sheriff’s office said.
Lawmaker targets teacher database failure
Coolidge: Accused teacher not in database
More schools say teacher in child pornography case not in state database
After his arrest, Padilla was placed on paid administration leave per district policy but has not been charged in the crimes, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
The Coolidge district’s governing board voted to fire Padilla because he did not immediately notify his supervisor of his arrest, which is state law, said Cecelia Johnson, a district administrator.
Padilla resigned from the Higley Unified School District in May 2007 amid that district’s investigation into whether he downloaded adult pornographic images, installed unauthorized software and allowed students access to prohibited Web sites, such as MySpace.
Higley school officials requested that the state Board of Education investigate Padilla, but state board officials did not inform them until eight months later that he was under investigation.
After resigning from Higley, Padilla was hired as a substitute teacher by the Gilbert Unified School District and the East Valley Institute of Technology, but school officials there said they would not have hired him had it been indicated in a state database that he was under investigation.
A secure database overseen by the state Board of Education flags teachers who are under investigation or who have been disciplined.
When Padilla was hired by Coolidge in June, there still was no indication in the database that he was under investigation, according to Johnson.
State Board of Education officials have not commented about Padilla not being listed in the database as being under investigation.
Earlier this month, Rep. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, told the Tribune that the state House’s Education Committee plans to investigate the database oversight when it resumes the session in January.
