Teacher Draws Fine, Is Told to Get Treatment
A Northridge junior high school teacher was ordered to receive psychiatric care and fined $150 Thursday after pleading no contest to a battery charge of touching one of his students on the buttocks.
Dwayne Mickelson, 28, of Burbank, who taught at Holmes Junior High School in Northridge, had been accused of touching the buttocks of a 12-year-old girl, touching the buttocks of another girl with a pointer and asking a third girl “to get into a certain position while he stood between her legs” during physical education classes, according to attorneys. He had taught at the school since February, 1985.
Mickelson was sentenced by San Fernando Municipal Judge Roy M. Carstairs.
Another count of battery and three counts of child annoying were dismissed Thursday, Deputy City Atty. Susan Lopez said. Attorneys were selecting a jury for trial when Mickelson decided to enter a plea, Lopez said.
The no-contest plea on the charge of battery is the equivalent of a guilty plea in criminal cases but cannot be used against Mickelson in any civil cases.
Los Angeles Unified School District staff will recommend that the school board dismiss Mickelson, who has been on compulsory leave without pay since June, district spokesman Bill Rivera said. Mickelson had been assigned to work in an administrative office in Panorama City after the allegations surfaced in November, 1985.
The board has not scheduled a discussion on the staff recommendation, and Mickelson would have the right to appeal his dismissal, Rivera said.
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