A Clayton County tribunal voted Monday that a middle school teacher accused of inappropriate behavior with special needs students should be fired, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The School Board will make the final decision on the employment of Adamson Middle School teacher David Vollmer, who appeared before the three-person panel last week.
Several witnesses testified about Vollmer's alleged wrongdoing, including claims that he groped and tickled a male student, destroyed a student's artwork, bent a student's fingers, and followed a female student into the bathroom.
The allegations, which came to light in September, were reported to school officials by a paraprofessional new to Vollmer's classroom and another paraprofessional who has since been dismissed.
Vollmer, who is specifically trained to work with extremely developmentally disabled children, denied the allegations.
"I'm here to help the students," he said during his testimony.
He suggested that the paraprofessional making the allegations did so out of personal animosity.
The sheriff's office has investigated the case and turned its findings over to the Clayton County District Attorney's Office.
--Staff writers Christian Boone and Tammy Joyner contributed to this report.
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