Former McMartin Defendant Presses Credentials Fight

Peggy Ann Buckey, a former defendant in the Virginia McMartin Preschool child molestation case, will begin the next round of her two-year battle to win back her teaching credentials at a hearing in Los Angeles on Monday.

The closed hearing before administrative law Judge Ronald Gruen in the State Office Building will take up allegations by five former McMartin students that Buckey, 32, sexually abused them at the now-defunct preschool in Manhattan Beach.

Buckey, granddaughter of the preschool’s founder, worked there briefly in 1978 and then taught handicapped children in Orange County public schools. Her credentials were suspended after she and six other teachers who had worked at the McMartin school were indicted on molestation charges in March, 1984.

Charges Dropped

Two years later, after an 18-month-long preliminary hearing, Los Angeles County District Atty. Ira Reiner dropped all charges against five of the McMartin teachers, including Buckey. But the Anaheim Union High School District, where Buckey was a tenured teacher at Kennedy High School in La Palma, refused to reinstate her, contending that her “moral fitness” to teach remains in doubt.

Stephanie Wald, a deputy state attorney general representing the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing at Monday’s hearing, said Reiner’s decision has no bearing on the issue of Buckey’s right to teach in public schools.

“In the criminal case, the standard is guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said. “The commission’s standard is quite a bit lower--the preponderance of evidence, or clear and convincing evidence.”

Under that standard, Wald said, “I am absolutely convinced that we have enough evidence to deny Buckey’s application.” She said the commission’s evidence in the hearing, which may last from several days to a month, will be the testimony of the five McMartin children and their parents.

John Wagner, Buckey’s attorney, blasted the commission’s position as “another example of the frightening power of mere accusations.” He said a massive police investigation in the McMartin case failed to turn up “even one shred of evidence to corroborate the accusations against Peggy Ann. So the D.A. has to free her. Now another instrumentality of government picks up those old, discredited and discarded accusations and tries to use them to prevent this young woman from resuming her teaching career and putting her life back together.”

Wagner said the Anaheim school district will owe Buckey $100,000 in back pay if it is obliged to reinstate her.

Buckey, who earned her master’s degree at USC, specialized in teaching deaf and aphasic children--those who are unable to use or understand words. Her five-year credentials expired on Oct. 1, 1985, during the McMartin preliminary hearing. Since she is making a new application for credentials, Wald said, the burden is on Buckey to disprove all of the allegations against her.

Wagner challenged that contention and rapped the state commission for not granting Buckey a prompt hearing on her application.

Buckey applied for the credentials shortly after the criminal charges were dropped. A year later, a committee appointed by the commission recommended denial. Under the law, she was entitled to a hearing on the denial but none was scheduled until Wagner obtained an order April 13 from Superior Court Judge Miriam Vogel directing the commission to set one.

Wald said delays were unavoidable because of the “vast complexity” of the McMartin case. She indicated that her office has done its own investigation of allegations against Buckey but declined to discuss the scope and direction of those efforts.

According to a “statement of issues” drafted by Wald on behalf of the credentialing commission, Buckey is accused of touching the private parts of the five children at the McMartin school. She is also accused of taking pictures of naked children and killing various animals--including birds, rabbits, turtles and a horse--to warn the toddlers not to tell their parents about the alleged abuse.

The allegations are a scaled-down version of an earlier list drafted in 1986 by Kyle D. Brown, a Hermosa Beach attorney hired by the Anaheim school district. That list, reportedly based largely on Brown’s personal interviews with six children, brings in other accusations that became familiar during the highly publicized McMartin case, such as the “naked movie star” game, supposedly played at the school, nude teachers cavorting around the classrooms, trips to a farm and food market where children allegedly were molested, and sacrificial offerings of small animals on a church altar.

According to attendance dates on the commission documents, several of the children on both lists of allegations were not enrolled at the preschool when Buckey worked there as a substitute teacher in late 1978. One child was not yet born.

Wald declined to discuss the apparent discrepancies, saying: “It will all come out at the hearing.” Cynthia F. Grennan, superintendent of the Anaheim school district, referred inquiries to Brown, who was out of town and could not be reached until Monday, his office said.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Gruen will forward his decision to the credentialing commission, whose members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. They can accept or reject the judge’s ruling.

The trial of the remaining two McMartin defendants, Raymond Buckey, 30, and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, 61, is in its second year in Los Angeles Superior Court.