Teacher who won back license faced sex abuse claims 20 years ago
A teacher who successfully fought a state order and had his teaching license recently reinstated was allowed to walk away from sex abuse allegations at a Tennessee high school 20 years ago, according to records obtained by The Tennessean.
He then went on to teach and coach in three more districts before being fired in 2003 for striking a student. But his teaching license was revoked only after similar sexual abuse allegations were made against him in 2005 while working in another state.
In a recent successful plea to have his Tennessee teaching license reinstated after the Tennessee State Board of Education had declined his request, James Swafford acknowledged he made "several mistakes" when he decided to send love letters to a 16-year-old student at Perquimans County High School in Hertford, N.C.
What Swafford did not mention was the fact he was allowed to resign from a Tennessee teaching position at Warren County High School in the mid-1990s amid similar claims that he sent love letters and underwear to a 17-year-old girl.
"Coach Swafford give (sic) gifts of underwear to her (the student) and kissed her ... at one point Coach Swafford wrote at least one love letter to the student saying he loved her," reads a 1996 McMinnville Police Department report obtained by The Tennessean.
"School officials confronted Jim Swafford and give (sic) him an option to resign or be investigated. The coach resigned."
Swafford’s ability to continue teaching after these allegations, and the fact his license was recently reinstated, mirror issues with teacher background checks highlighted in USA TODAY NETWORK and Tennessean investigations. The national investigation found Tennessee among the worst states in teacher licensing and reporting bad behavior.
Teachers can lose license elsewhere, work in Tennessee
There's no mention of the allegations in Swafford's personnel file with Warren County Schools. The file contains Swafford's resignation letter and letters from other districts indicating officials from those counties asked to see Swafford's file when he applied for jobs elsewhere.
There is no documentation about sending underwear or hitting students in the personnel files for Swafford from other school districts obtained by The Tennessean where he has been employed.
Two districts acknowledged losing or destroying Swafford's records, including those from his time at South-Doyle High School in Knox County. The school principal fired Swafford for striking a student-athlete. It was after that incident Swafford and his family moved to North Carolina, where he continued teaching.
None of the information was referenced in the documents cited by Administrative Judge Kim Summers when she reinstated Swafford's teaching license in November. Tennessee education officials acknowledged Tuesday they didn't have information on the Warren County love letters or hitting a student incident when they argued against reinstating Swafford's teaching credentials.
During the appeal, Swafford's attorney, Samuel Hudson, told Summers that Swafford "has no prior allegations of misconduct."
"There is no other evidence in the record that justifies the denial of (Swafford's) request for reinstatement, especially in light of the many character witnesses who believe reinstatement to be warranted and appropriate," Summers said when she granted Swafford's request.
Hudson didn't respond to multiple requests from The Tennessean seeking comment this week. Summers didn't return a phone message left Monday with an assistant.
The fact that none of the prior issues show up in official checks into Swafford's past — despite at least one police report and several media reports noting misconduct — and school districts are inconsistent in maintaining personnel files illustrates ongoing problems with how Tennessee schools examine teachers' backgrounds.
Love letters to a teen
While teaching and coaching at Warren County High School in 1995, Swafford was accused of giving a 17-year-old female student underwear as a gift, sending her at least one love letter and kissing the student, according to a 1996 police report from McMinnville, Tenn.
"There's no question that the two have been seeing each other," the police report states, citing information from a Tennessee Department of Human Services official.
A Tennessean account from the time says then-Superintendent Pedro Paz confronted Swafford with allegations and that Swafford "resigned on the spot 'of his own free will' to avoid embarrassment to the school system." Reached by phone Monday, Paz, who retired 15 years ago, said he didn't remember the incident.
Tennessee gets an F in teacher background checks
McMinnville Police Chief Bryan Denton said he wasn't involved in investigating the case, but from what he can tell in the police report and from speaking with people who do remember the case, he said it looks like the family of the 17-year-old girl didn't want to cooperate with the investigation.
"I’m sure it would have been difficult, if not impossible for police and the D.A. to pursue the case, not being able to interview the victim," Denton said Tuesday in an email.
Swafford didn't want to participate either. The police report quotes Swafford's attorney at the time saying officials could interview his client "when hell freezes over."
It doesn't appear that North Carolina education officials made any mention of this incident in their decision to revoke Swafford's license in 2006. At that time, Swafford was discovered to have sent love letters to a 16-year-old female student, who also worked as the family baby sitter, according to the document from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
"You are perfect in my eyes & even better in my arms. I fell so deeply in love w/you & still do every time I look in your eyes or kiss your lips," Swafford wrote, according to North Carolina education officials.
Summers deemed Swafford's relationship with the girl was "neither romantic nor physical" when Summers decided to reinstate his license in Tennessee.
'There's just no place for something like that'
After Warren County Schools allowed Swafford to walk away, he made his way through positions at Watertown High School in Wilson County and Stewart County High School. Although two sources said Swafford resigned abruptly from his job in Stewart County under questionable circumstances, then-Stewart County High School Principal Chris Guynn said he couldn't remember any kind of controversy.
"He did not leave under investigation or anything like that. He resigned of his own free will to take another job," said Guynn, who's now technology supervisor for the district.
When initially asked about Swafford, Guynn immediately responded that Swafford resigned in the middle of the year to take a new job but he remembered few other details. He said he'd have to look at Swafford's personnel file.
In a follow-up phone call, Guynn said that Stewart County couldn't find Swafford's personnel file.
After his departure from Stewart County, Swafford took a job coaching at South-Doyle High School in Knox County. He coached there for four seasons until he was fired after an investigation found he struck a football player in the back of the head, according to Knoxville News Sentinel records.
"There's just no place for something like that happening anywhere, any time," then-South Doyle Athletics Director Clark Duncan told the News Sentinel.
"Just because you wear the title of coach, it doesn't give you rights others don't have."
Duncan also told the News Sentinel he wasn't aware of any previous, similar allegations against Swafford. Duncan, who is still the athletics director and head football coach and assistant principal, was recently placed on administrative leave over allegations of "failure to perform essential responsibilities and duties," according to the News Sentinel.
After repeated requests for Swafford's personnel file, Knox County Schools spokeswoman Melissa Tindell said Monday the file "has been purged by records management."
North Carolina records also make no mention of Swafford striking a student in Tennessee.
After leaving his last Tennessee high school job in 2009, Swafford worked at the Bledsoe County Detention Center, in addition to other positions.
A national problem
Neither the State Board of Education nor the Tennessee Department of Education set policy on how school districts should handle personnel records.
This lack of directive falls in line with a recent USA TODAY NETWORK investigation that found Tennessee among the worst states in the country when it comes to checking teachers' backgrounds. The investigation focused on weak revocation laws, district discretion on background checks and poor sharing of misconduct information with other states — an issue that the Swafford case illustrates.
Tracking disciplined teachers across states is difficult
McKenzie Manning, spokeswoman for the state board, said the districts didn't provide the board information on Swafford's past allegations.
"Based on a search through records on microfilm, we did not find evidence of the additional records being submitted by the districts. However, the state board took the strongest possible action with the information available to it under any circumstances by voting not to reinstate Mr. Swafford's license," Manning said in an emailed statement.
It's unclear if these actions, had they been reported to the board, could have prompted board action before Swafford moved to North Carolina. The education department advises district boards to work with their attorney to set specific legal guidelines on personnel matters, including maintaining personnel records, said department spokeswoman Ashley Ball.
The state also provides guidance on how districts share criminal history records check information with other districts.
“While districts are permitted to share these records with each other, the department advises each district to do their own criminal history records check and not rely on previous checks from other districts,” she said.
The Tennessean also found the Tennessee Board of Education decisions on reinstating or revoking licenses both haphazard and hamstrung by weak laws and previous board decisions. Board Executive Director Sara Heyburn told The Tennessean she is working on creating concrete rules to determine when the board will suspend, revoke or reinstate a license.
She also believes state laws should be changed so that Tennessee is required to revoke a teacher's license if another state pulls the license. According to the ruling in Swafford's appeal case, revocation in another state is not sufficient reason for revocation in Tennessee.
Jason Gonzales contributed to this report.
Reach Dave Boucher at 615-259-8892 and on Twitter @Dave_Boucher1.
Redacted McMinnville Police Department report dated 1/10/1996 naming James Swafford
Source: McMinnville Police Department
James Swafford resignation from Warren County High School dated 1/9/1996
Source: Warren County School District