Harder to Fire a Teacher Than Get Her Out of Prison
Last February an Alabama jury convicted Jessica Heather DeFoor of second-degree sexual abuse and enticing a child for immoral purposes. She was sentenced to two years in prison, but she is currently free on a $30,000 appeal bond.
Posting that bond wasn’t as large a financial burden for DeFoor as it might have been because she has continued to receive her teacher paycheck from the Morgan County school system for the last three years – including the five months since her conviction.
The school board voted to fire DeFoor in April, but she remains on the payroll until an arbitration hearing is held to determine whether the firing is justified. The law allows arbitration hearings to be delayed while appeals continue, so DeFoor might be drawing a teacher’s salary for a while yet.
