STATE OF
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
RE: Denise Dusseau,
Respondent Docket No. TCR 18-2
Attorney for Respondent: In Pro Per
Attorney for Complainant: Michael Cox
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Travis Comstock
Assistant Attorney General
Williams Building
P.O. Box 30758
FINAL DECISION AND ORDER
This matter is before me on review from a Proposal for Decision of Administrative Law Judge Michael St. John (ALJ) issued on April 23, 2018. It is based on a request of the Office of Educator Excellence of the Michigan Department of Education to suspend respondent Denise Dusseau’s Michigan elementary standard teaching certificate. The request is based on respondent’s November 1, 2017 conviction for identity theft. MCL 445.65. The crime for which respondent stands convicted is a felony, MCL 445.69, and is thus one of the crimes enumerated in MCL 380.1535a(1).
A hearing before the ALJ was held on April 19, 2018. Although the ALJ sent a notice of the hearing to respondent, she did not attend the hearing.[1] The ALJ issued his Proposal for Decision recommending suspension of respondent’s teaching certificate. Although offered the opportunity, respondent did not file exceptions to the Proposal for Decision.
The governing statute creates a rebuttable presumption that conviction of a crime enumerated in MCL 380.1535a is reasonably and adversely related to the ability to teach and is sufficient grounds for suspension or revocation of a teaching certificate. MCL 380.1535a(10). Respondent has failed to rebut that presumption. Accordingly, I must find that respondent’s conviction establishes her unfitness to teach and that it provides sufficient grounds for suspension of her teaching certificate.[2]
ORDER
Now, therefore, it is ordered that:
Respondent's Michigan elementary standard teaching certificate is hereby suspended.
________________________________
Sheila A. Alles
Interim Superintendent of Public Instruction
DATED: June 5, 2018
[1] See the procedural history in the ALJ’s Proposal for Decision.
[2] Respondent’s elementary standard teaching certificate expires on June 30, 2018. When respondent completes her probation, she may request a hearing on the renewal of her certificate. See MCL 380.1535a(5). At that time, it would be her burden to provide sufficient evidence that she is currently fit to serve as a teacher and that reinstatement of her certificate will not adversely affect the health, safety, and welfare of pupils. In addition, before a teacher who has been convicted of a felony can be employed by a school district, both the superintendent and the board of education of that district must agree in writing to the employment. MCL 380.1230(9). Further, a teacher convicted of a felony is required to report that conviction to his or her employing school district. MCL 380.1230d.