Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jun 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: John Woolfolk

REHABILITATED ADDICT FIGHTS TO BE ALLOWED TO TEACH

She's been called a miracle. A self-described former dope fiend now
nine years clean and sober, Michelle Delk has taught Santa Clara
County jail inmates to overcome addictions with a personal record that
gives her an uncanny ability to connect with and inspire them.

But that record has just brought Delk's fledgling career to an abrupt
halt. Citing three of her felony convictions, state officials this
month denied Delk's application for the teaching credential she needs
to keep instructing inmates in addiction recovery, throwing her out of
the job she had held for the past year.

``The law says people convicted of certain crimes cannot be issued
teaching credentials,'' said Janet Vining, a senior attorney with the
California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. ``It's not a matter of
what we would like to do or not like to do. It's a matter of the
statute stating that with those convictions, she is not allowed to
have a credential.''

Delk, 46, has been teaching her Men of Honor and Bridge classes to
groups of 64 men in the county's Elmwood Correctional Facility, where
she had done seven stints herself, on a temporary credential since
June 4, 2004. During that time, the state commission was reviewing her
application for an Adult Education Teaching Credential.

The commission in Sacramento informed Delk in a June 9 letter that
because her record included felony convictions for burglary, grand
theft and willful child cruelty, she was automatically barred from a
teaching credential. She lost her job when the letter arrived June
14.

For the single grandmother who had finally turned her life around, had
just bought a car and scheduled medical appointments, the loss of
employment and health insurance was devastating. Delk has spent much
of the past year supplying the commission with copies of court
records, expecting it would eventually clear her to teach.

``This whole year has been bliss because I love my job and I'm walking
in my calling,'' Delk said. ``My hope's been taken away.''

Delk's boss, Milpitas Adult Education Correction Program Principal
Nick Hinebaugh, county jail officials and other supporters have been
working furiously to get her record expunged and her application
reconsidered.

``It is paradoxical that many of Michelle's assets in working with
inmates are being viewed as liabilities,'' Hinebaugh wrote in a letter
Thursday on her behalf, noting that the convictions at issue were at
least 9 years old.

Delk went to court last month to have her misdemeanor convictions
expunged by Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Robert Foley. She
was back in court Thursday to ask that her felony convictions be
removed as well. Santa Clara County Judge Randolf Rice granted her
request.

Expunging a record sets aside a conviction, releasing the convict
``from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense of
which he or she has been convicted.'' The goal is to let convicts who
clean up their act seek work without being unduly tainted by their
past.

But expunging does not completely erase a criminal record. The
convictions still must be disclosed on applications for public office
or any state or local agency license or for work with the state
lottery. It also doesn't remove prohibitions against owning firearms.

``It says you did what you were supposed to do and cleaned it up,''
Vining said. ``It's not like it's off your record forever. It's just
submerged for certain purposes.''

And Vining said expunging records alone won't be enough for the
commission to reconsider Delk's credential. For the child cruelty and
grand theft convictions, Delk also will need a certificate of
rehabilitation from the California Department of Justice.

Delk's lawyer, Shelyna Brown, said they will request that now that her
record has been expunged.

But Vining said that because the first-degree burglary conviction is
deemed a ``serious felony,'' Delk will not only need a certificate of
rehabilitation but also a pardon from the governor.

Delk's supporters say the state should change its credentialing system
so that people with felony backgrounds aren't automatically barred
from teaching in jails, where they have proven particularly effective.

``It turns out that the best people to teach inmates are former
inmates who are in recovery,'' said Bob Feldman, programs manager at
the county Department of Correction, which runs the jails. He said men
in Delk's class were in tears when told she couldn't return.

``Michelle is able to reach them,'' said Carla Van Meter, a jail
rehabilitation officer. ``A teaching credential in a custody setting
should be held to a different standard.''

Hinebaugh said in the last five years, five other people who applied
for credentials to teach in the county jails also were denied because
of old felony convictions.

Vining said that the commission is bound by laws established through
the state Legislature. During the past fiscal year, felony convictions
forced the commission to automatically revoke 81 credentials and deny
46 applications. The commission used its discretionary authority to
revoke 146 credentials and deny 58 applications. There are 300,000
credentialed teachers in California.

Delk says she accepts the consequences of her past, but hopes the
state will give her a second chance. Growing up poor in Chicago, Delk
began her 23-year addiction odyssey at age 12, starting with marijuana
before getting hooked on cocaine, pills and liquor.

``Everything I got in trouble for was drug-related,'' Delk said.
``This is my past, and I can't blame it on anybody. How long do I have
to pay for my past?''
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin