Ousted Official Says He Didn’t Lie About His Record But Panel Skeptical As It Considers Revoking Haws’ Teaching Certificate

Idaho’s ousted chief deputy state schools superintendent said Monday he did not lie when he denied having any criminal convictions despite having been fined and placed on probation for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Terry Haws told a professional panel considering whether his teaching certificate should be revoked that he was not guilty of the charges lodged against him in Alaska in 1983 and believed that by entering a plea of no contest, or nolo contendere, he would not be admitting guilt and would have no criminal record.

“By pleading nolo contendere, I would not be pleading guilty, which I refused to do, and that the court could dismiss all the charges against me with no punishment,” Haws said.

But he also acknowledged that the $350 fine he paid and the three years’ probation he served - subject to a possible 60-day jail sentence - were punishment for inappropriate actions.

He was accused in 1983 of soliciting sex from a minor in exchange for drugs, among other charges, and agreed to plead no contest in 1984 to the misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Three felony charges were dropped after the fine was paid.

Haws was fired as chief deputy state schools superintendent on Jan. 27 after disclosure of the Alaska charges. He had been campaign manager for state Schools Superintendent Anne Fox.

The attempt to revoke Haws’ teaching certificate was prompted by the fact that he had not disclosed the no-contest plea to the misdemeanor charge on his 1987 application for an Idaho teaching certificate or on a 1990 application for employment in the Nampa (Idaho) School District. The Nampa application specifically asked whether the applicant had entered any no-contest pleas.