Tucson school counselor accused of looking at porn, can work with kids again

A school guidance counselor accused of visiting pornographic websites on his work computer has been given permission to work with children again four years after the incident.

Rogelio A. Hernandez resigned from his job as a college and career counselor at Catalina High School in the Tucson Unified School District on May 8, 2012, after he was accused of accessing adult websites for approximately 18 hours, documents from the Arizona State Board of Education state.

With his guidance counselor certificate and a separate teaching certificate in jeopardy, Hernandez negotiated a settlement with the Arizona State Board of Education, which called for his certificates to be suspended through January 2016 as long as he met certain conditions.

While it was unclear what the conditions were, Hernandez voluntarily joined a sexual addiction support group that he still actively participates in.

In February, just weeks after his suspension ended, Hernandez applied to have his certificates renewed. He was notified that the state board’s Professional Practices Advisory Committee would have to review the matter given his history.

In August, the PPAC unanimously recommended that the State Board approve the renewal, but when the item came before the board on Sept. 26 it was no longer unanimous.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Two of the eight board members present — Arizona Schools Chief Diane Douglas and member Chuck Schmidt — voted against the renewal.

While Douglas said she appreciated the effort put in by Hernandez since the incident, she said it was not enough.

“From my opinion, there are certain things you do that you lose the right to work with children and looking at pornography, much less pornography in the classroom on school-issued equipment … I’m sorry, I can’t in good conscious vote to reissue this certificate,” she said.

Efforts to determine whether Hernandez has been hired at a Tucson-area school were unsuccessful, although TUSD said it has not rehired him.

Comments made during the Sept. 26 meeting indicate that Hernandez had not been looking at child pornography.