3 teachers lose certification in sex scandals

The Arizona Board of Education this week elected to formally revoke or accept the surrender of teaching certifications of three East Valley teachers accused of having inappropriate relationships with students.

The process was the state's final step in banishing them from a teaching career in public education.

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The state board voted during its monthly meeting on Monday to unanimously revoke the teaching certificate of former Paradise Valley High School English teacher Jennifer Mally, who was sentenced to six months in prison in May, and accepted Tom Porras' surrender of his teaching certification. Porras is a former assistant football coach and substitute teacher at Scottsdale Saguaro High School.

Within a week, Porras and Mally both were arrested on suspicion of sex-related offenses with students in April and May, respectively.

Mally, 26, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual conduct with a minor for having a five-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

Porras was accused of inappropriately touching and performing a sexual act over a 17-year-old girl while giving her a massage in his home in April 2007. He had voluntarily surrendered his teaching certificate in March, according to Vincent Yanez, executive director of the Arizona Board of Education.

Porras was arrested on suspicion of felony sex abuse and misdemeanor public indecency. However, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Helene Abrams dismissed the case because she ruled that Porras' constitutional rights to remain silent were violated when Scottsdale police continued to question him after he said he didn't want to answer any more questions until he spoke with an attorney. An appeal is pending.

The state board also agreed to revoke the teaching certification of Angela Csader, a former kindergarten teacher at Anthem Elementary School in Phoenix sentenced to two months in jail on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, a 16-year-old Gilbert boy who fathered her child.

The state board also decided to reschedule the certification revocation vote until its Sept. 24 meeting for Paul Knutson, a former science teacher at Scotts-dale Chaparral High School.

Knutson was sentenced in June to 60 days in jail and lifetime probation on three counts of sexual conduct with a minor for having a sexual relationship with a girl in 1983 and 1984.