What goes into the decision to fire an LAUSD teacher before they're convicted?

News of a fourth L.A. Unified employee accused of inappropriate behavior with students came to light Monday. The school district is moving to fire at least two of the employees before they’ve been convicted of a crime — an unusual way for the district to handle such cases.

California law that governs schools mandates paid leave if a teacher is under investigation for sex offenses. School districts place a teacher on unpaid leave after he or she has been charged with a crime. A court conviction for a sex offense leads to the teacher’s termination.

The employment process is designed to follow the criminal process, says schools lawyer Chris Hine.

"Like all of us believe, innocent until proven guilty," Hine said. "An arrest doesn’t mean a person's guilty of what they’ve been arrested for."

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L.A. Unified’s reeling from incidents of employees accused of inappropriate behavior with students; several came to light or faced greater scrutiny in the last few weeks. L.A. Unified officials are moving to put the employment termination process ahead of the criminal process.

A KTLA reporter asked Superintendent John Deasy about a police investigation into a high school music teacher’s alleged inappropriate behavior with students. Deasy said that he's authorized that teacher's immediate firing.

Deasy can’t make the decision by himself. The school board has to sign off. Then the district convenes an independent, three-person commission, says schools lawyer Mark Bresee.

"It’s called the Commission on Professional Competence," Bresee said. "It is an administrative law judge from the Office of Administrative Hearings in the local area of the school district, and then two educators who are appointed, one by the employee, one by the school district."

One reason a school district’s move to fire an employee follows the criminal process is that it can’t use police arrest information and pre-conviction investigation details to terminate the employee.

"Ultimately, the district has to have evidence to prove the underlying conduct that the teacher might be arrested for or charged for in order to establish a basis for termination prior to a conviction," Bresee said.

School board president Monica Garcia said the board and the superintendent are working on a plan to encourage more vigilance about improper behavior toward students among all employees of the L.A. Unified School District.