Tempe student teacher Joel Calderon, accused of sex with minor, fired before for bad behavior but still hired

The reason given of not having an electronic data base is bogus.  There’s supposed to a special file of teachers fired for cause and it should be routinely checked with every new hire to avoid this kind of thing from happening.

ABC 15reports a student teacher now faces charges of having sexual contact with a student at Tempe Union High School.

But should the district have let him be in one of their classrooms in the first place?

Our ABC15 investigation uncovered teachers in the same district had warned administrators about Joel Calderon's alleged inappropriate conduct years before when he worked at a high school just three miles away.

About three years ago, Calderon started his teaching career at McClintock High School as a math aide.

According to documents obtained by ABC15, the first red flag came up in March of 2010.

In a letter, the school principal warned Calderon not to take students out in his car or to dinner. Despite those warnings, the problems continued in November. 

"He didn't heed that information the following fall semester, and it was reported again, that there were some oddities, if you will in his performance," said Kevin Mendivil, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources with the school district.

Administrators kept a paper trail, writing Calderon was getting too close to some students.

The McClintock High School principal reported Calderon walked a female student down the hallway, and also came to a teacher's classroom to visit her.

Another time, school officials said Calderon was overheard asking a female student if she was "lonely" while she waited in the reception. Documents show he allegedly said she could come down to his classroom "anytime."

According to school documents, when the principal approached him again "he shrugged and said he didn't think it was a big deal."

"There's a fine line you cross. That was addressed in his performance appraisal, which resulted in his termination by the administrator," Mendivil said.

He was fired from the school district December of 2010.

But a few years later at age 26, he was back in the school district as a student teacher at Tempe Union High School just a few miles away.

We asked how that happened.

"His name was sent out along with probably 200 others in the district. And we simply do not have a database, an electronic database by which we can cross reference previous employees. It's just not there," Mendivil said.

Police documents show Calderon allegedly met with a 16-year-old student outside of school and had a few sleepovers that led to oral sex.

More here