BOE attorney John Reinhardt confirmed Monday that a criminal background check was conducted on Hightower at some point and it became a part of her personnel file. He wasn’t clear when that criminal history was conducted and confirmed that it was a portion of Hightower’s personnel file that was not copied and furnished to the Tifton Gazette.

Atwater said that there was a criminal history report conducted on Hightower when she was hired as a substitute teacher in 2004. Hightower indicated on booking records obtained from law enforcement that her current employer at the time of her April 5, 2006 arrest for aggravated assault was Annie Belle Clark.

“She was probably working at Annie Belle Clark the day she was arrested,” Atwater said, explaining that substitute teachers don’t work at the same school every day.

Also revealed in the copies of Hightower’s personnel file was that she indicated on her verification for work experience that she worked from September 1992 until May 1994 as a teacher assistant at Tifton HeadStart. The form was verified by Carolyn Sanders. It is not known whether Sanders was personally contacted by the school system prior to Hightower’s hiring as a substitute teacher in 2004 or if Sanders was employed with HeadStart at the time of Hightower’s firing from that agency. Sanders made no comments on the employee verification form. Atwater said it was current policy to call former employers of those applying for positions in the school system.

Also, on a copy of a form related to her application for employment as a substitute teacher dated Sept. 8, 2004, Hightower indicated that “she had never been discharged from any position or the armed forces for unprofessional conduct.” She also indicated that she had “been convicted of a misdemeanor other than a minor traffic offense.”

On a “State of Georgia State Security Questionnaire” in Hightower’s personnel file and dated Aug. 14, 2006, Hightower answered “no” to the question “Have you ever been convicted, or are any charges now pending against you by Federal, State or other law enforcement authorities, for any violation of any federal law, state law, county or municipal law, regulation or ordinance?”

According to Atwater, paraprofessionals or substitute teachers are not allowed by policy to administer “any type of corporal punishment” and that fact was part of the decision to suspend her without pay. Dobard said punishment for Hightower’s offense “could have ranged anywhere from suspension to termination.” Atwater said suspension without pay is the “most serious punishment that can be levied short of termination and her history with us, she had no records to indicate that she had any problems with her employment and no evidence of letters of (prior) reprimand.”

“As far as we know or as far as our records and her employers, she was a good employee,” Atwater said. “The current administration’s knowledge of her employment was that she had been a very good, dependable, reliable employee. Had we known the detailed incidents involving her past, the result would have been much different.”

Dobard said the guardian(s) of the student bitten were “basically satisfied with what was decided.”

In Ezekiel’s letter dated Jan. 22 reprimanding Hightower for the biting incident, Ezekiel wrote that she had investigated and interviewed two eyewitnesses to the incident and concluded that Hightower had bitten the child; that Hightower had “denied the allegations and said that no such thing took place”; and wrote to Hightower that “harming children, lying about the incident, and intimidating adults will not be tolerated.”

“It is clear to me in observing your lack of professional behavior that you need help with controlling your temper when you become frustrated about working through difficult situations. In the future, you will need to work harder on your manner in which you handle difficult situations (biting a child will not be tolerated).”

Atwater said Monday that Ezekiel had expressed no disagreement or concern with the decision to place Hightower on a one-week suspension without pay concerning the biting incident.

Dobard said that he believed “the perception, according to parents, is that she (Hightower) is an intimidating person.

“I don’t know of any documentation where she actually confronted a parent to intimidate them,” Dobard said.

Atwater said he encourages anyone to “be open with complaints.”