State urges revoking teaching license of Cummins
The teacher’s license of a Maury County educator accused of taking his 15-year-old student to California and leading authorities on a nationwide manhunt is up for revocation on Friday before the Tennessee State Board of Education.
Pulling Tad Cummins’ teaching license is an expected move by the state board, which handles all discipline hearings of Tennessee teacher licenses.
“Respondent (Cummins) was notified by certified mail of the board’s intent to revoke his license based upon these findings, and of his right to a hearing,” according to the board’s explanation of the revocation. “Respondent received notice but did not request a hearing.”
Cummins’ teacher license record shows he had never been suspended or had his license revoked before authorities accused him of the March kidnapping of the 15-year-old Middle Tennessee girl.
But Maury County Schools reported Cummins in February to the state board for insubordination with a recommendation to suspend him as a result of continued contact with the girl. That came weeks after the first report of alleged inappropriate contact by Cummins with the student.
Cummins was fired from his Culleoka Unit School job in March.
Cummins has held a professional occupational educators license since 2014 in health science. To obtain the license, educators need one year’s work in the field in the past five years and an associate degree.
The state board recently reworked its teacher discipline system, but changes are still pending. It voted in October on stricter guidelines on how to punish teachers, which includes a permanent revocation.
Some of the discipline rules were changed after a Tennessean investigation, in participation with the USA TODAY NETWORK, that found flaws in the state’s teacher background check system and a scattershot approach to teacher discipline.
Cummins still faces ongoing state and federal criminal proceedings. His federal trial was recently delayed until January 2018.
Cummins is charged with transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to commit illegal sexual acts and the destruction, alteration or falsification of records related to a federal investigation.
After 38 days on the run, Cummins and the student were found in a cabin in a remote area of northern California.
Federal investigators say Cummins has already admitted to sexual contact with the student. He pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
Reach Jason Gonzales at jagonzales@tennessean.com and on Twitter @ByJason Gonzales.