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	Whiting's Teaching License Scrutinized Massillon Independent [Massillon OH] October 9, 2006 http://www.indeonline.com/index.php?ID=10948&r=0&Category= The Ohio Board of Education is investigating the teaching certificate of Northwest High School business teacher and head football coach Vic Whiting, the Toledo Blade reported Friday. Whiting, while at St. John's High School in Delphos, was accused of touching a 15-year-old girl between October and December of 1990. The Diocese of Toledo settled the lawsuit with the victim five years later. The Blade prompted the investigation when the newspaper made the state aware that nine former of current Catholic priests convicted or accused of child sex abuse, and Whiting, the only active teacher of the group, still held teaching certificates. Whiting, 50, refused to comment Sunday. Northwest Board of Education member Robert Blowers said the district was aware of the allegations when it hired Whiting and said the claims were baseless through its own investigation. "We investigated that back when we hired Vic," Blowers said, who serves alongside Whiting's wife, Barbara, on the board. "There was nothing to it. We asked the police department and they said there were no charges. It was just he said, she said. There was just nothing there. We checked it out very thoroughly." Whiting holds certificates to teach in nonpublic and public schools. He was hired in 1999 by Northwest. Blowers said Whiting has the district's full support. He praised the coach for "an excellent" job in the classroom, on the field and in the weight room. He would not react specifically when asked how the district would respond if the state revoked Whiting's license. "We will support Vic Whiting 110 percent," he said. "I can't answer what-ifs." Board member Thomas Mayberry said he doesn't know Whiting well and was not on the board when he was hired. But he has fielded calls from several concerned residents. "I intend to ask them (Board of Education) exactly what was done," Mayberry said. Dan Funk, Whitings' attorney, could not be reach for comment. Public and private schools are not required to notify the state licensing board when they discipline a teacher for a sex offense. The Education Department wants to change that, but a bill introduced last year has been held up in a committee. Since 1994, those applying for teaching licenses are required to undergo criminal and sex-offender checks, but the Department of Education is not authorized to make additional checks after licenses are issued or renewed. A tenth priest, Stephen G. Rogers, a former religion teacher at Toledo's Central Catholic High School, was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2003. The Ohio Board of Education next week plans to revoke his teaching certificate. The state Education Department relies on public reports, state and national databases, and tips to alert them of such cases. No complaints were lodged with the Education Department in those cases, said Adrian Allison, director of the agency's Office of Professional Conduct and Education Licensure. Less than 1 percent of certified or licensed teachers in Ohio have faced disciplinary action. "It's not a widespread problem. But when it happens once, it's one time too often," department spokesman J.C. Benton said.
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